PLUMBAGIXACEAE. 3J9 



Family 4. PLUMBAGINACEAE Lindl. 



Plumbago Family. 



Perennial herbs or shrubs, with basal or alternate leaves, and perfect 

 and regular clustered flowers. Calyx inferior, gainosepalous, 4-5-toothed, 

 plaited at the sinuses, the tube 5-15-ribbed. Corolla of 4 or 5 hypogynous 

 clawed segments connate at the base, or united into a tube. Stamens 4 or 

 5, opposite the corolla-segments, hypogynous; anthers 2-celled, attached 

 by their backs to the filam'ents, the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk 

 none. Ovary superior, 1-celled ; ovule solitary, anatropous, pendulous; 

 styles 5. Fruit a utricle or achene, enclosed by the calyx, rarely a dehiscent 

 capsule. Seed solitary; testa membranous; endosperm mealy, or none; 

 embryo straight; cotyledons entire. About 10 genera and 350 species, of 

 wide distribution, many in saline situations. 



Calyx glandular; claws of the petals united into a tube. 1. Plumbago. 



Calyx not glandular; claws of the petals distinct or nearly so. 2. Limonium. 



1. PLUMBAGO L. Sp. PI. 151. 1753. 



Perennial herbs, shrubs or vines, with alternate, often clasping leaves, the 

 purple blue red or white flowers in bracted spikes. Calyx tubular, 5-ribbed, 

 glandular, with 4 or 5 erect lobes. Petals 4 or 5, their claws united into a 

 tube, their blades entire, spreading, the corolla thin, salverform. Stamens 

 5, distinct, the filaments dilated at the base, the anthers linear. Styles fili- 

 form, stigmatic on the inner side, partly united. Fruit capsular. [Latin, 

 leadwort.] About a dozen species, natives of southern Europe and West- 

 central Asia and tropical America. Type species: Plumbago europaea L. 



1. Plumbago scandens L. Sp. PI. ed. 2, 215. 1762. 



A perennial woody herb, the branches often elongated and vine-like, 

 glabrous, sometimes 1 m. long. Leaves ovate to oblongdanceolate, mem- 

 branous, glabrous, 3-10 em. long, acute or acuminate at the apex, narrowed at 

 the base, the petioles 1 cm. long or less; spikes slender, peduncled, several- 

 many-flowered, 5-12 cm. long; bracts lanceolate, acuminate, persistent, about 

 5 mm. long; calyx about 1 cm. long, beset with long-stalked glands; corolla 

 white, its filiform tube about 2 cm. long, its obovate mucronate spreading 

 lobes 5-7 mm. long. 



Waste and cultivated grounds. New Providence, Harbor Island, Cat Island and 

 Grand Turk : Florida to Arizona ; West Indies and continental tropical America. 

 White I'lumijago* Doctor-hush. 



2. LIMONIUM Adans. Fam. PI. 2: 283. 1763. 



Herbs, mostly with flat basal leaves, and numerous small flowers cymose- 

 paniculate on bracted scapes, in 1-3-flowered bracteolate clusters, forming one- 

 sided spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, the limb scarious, 5-toothed, the 

 tube usually 10-ribbed. Petals 5, clawed. Stamens adnate to the bases of the 

 petals. Styles 5, separate in our species, stigmatic along the inner side. Fruit 

 a utricle. [Ancient name of the wild beet.] About 120 species widely dis- 

 tributed. Type species: Statice Limonium L. 



