Plumbago tristis (Plumbago tristis)
Description
The species include herbaceous plants and shrubs growing to 0.5-2 m (1.6-6.6 ft) tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, entire, 0.5-12 cm (0.20-4.72 in) long, with a tapered base and often with a hairy margin. The flowers are white, blue, purple, red, or pink, with a tubular corolla with five petal-like lobes; they are produced in racemes.The flower calyx has glandular trichomes (hairs), which secrete a sticky mucilage that is capable of trapping and killing insects; it is unclear what the purpose of these trichomes is; protection from pollination by way of "crawlers" (ants and other insects that typically do not transfer pollen between individual plants), or possible protocarnivory.Mature plumbago leaves often have a whitish residue on their undersides, a feature that can confuse gardeners. While this white material resembles a powdery mildew disease or a chemical spray deposit, it is actually a natural exudate from "chalk" glands that are found on the Plumbago species
Taxonomic tree
-
Domain: Eukarya
-
-
Kingdom: Plantae
-
-
Phylum:
-
-
Class: Magnoliopsida
-
-
Order: Caryophyllales
-
-
Family: Plumbaginaceae
-
-
Genus: Plumbago
-
-
-
-
-
-
