( 2917 ) 
PLUMBAGO RHOMBOIDEA. RHOMBOID-LEAVED 
LEAD-wort. 
KEKE KEKE KEKE KKK EKER 
Class and Order. 
Pentanpria Monoeynia. 
( Nat. Ord. — Piumsaerneg. ) 
Generic Character. 
_ Cal. plicatus, 5-dentatus. Cor. monopetala, hypocrate- 
tiformis, limbo 5-partito. Stam. 5, hypogyna. Stylus 1, 
filiformis. Stigmata 5, acuta. Capsula valvata. Semen 
albuminosum. Br. 
Specific Character. 
PLumBaco * rhomboideu ; annua, caule terete, foliis rhom- 
boideis inferne in petiolum alatum ad basin auricu- 
latum amplexicaule attenuatis, spicis paucifloris, brac- 
teis calicybusque glandulosis. 
a 
Descr. Plant annual, one to one and a half foot high, 
erect, branched, the stem and branches erect, terete. Leaves 
arge in proportion to the size of the plant, rhomboid, 
quite entire, elabrous, veined, tapering into a long, winged, 
Petiole, whose very base is auriculated and embraces the 
stem : upper leaves smaller, and less distinctly auriculated. 
Spikes terminal, of a few remote flowers, each subtended by 
4 single glandular bractea, which is small and ya. 
Calyx 
* From plumbum, lead ; as Sir JAMES SmitH suggests, on account of the 
dark hue of the leaves of Pu. europea; but Puiny says the Plumbago is a 
: * which cures a disease in the eye called Plumbum, and that hence it de- 
res its name: whilst Taérs assures us, that our Plumbago is employed in 
ruring the tooth-ache, but that it at the same time imparts a leaden colour 
to them, In French it is called Dentelaire. 
