Wild Leadwort

Gebel Elba.

Tropical and subtropical regions.

Plumbago zeylanica and P. scandens, both Linnaean species, have heretofore been treated as distinct, the former name applied exclusively to Old World plants, the latter to New World specimens. John Edmondson (pers. comm.) indicates that he believes this “could be a classic case of New World and Old World taxonomists each doing their own thing.” Plants in herbaria under these two names appear indistinguishable.

Perennial herbs or shrubs, erect, 1--3 m tall, evergreen. Branches spreading, often lianous. Petiole base sometimes auriculate; leaf blade ovate, (3--)5--8(--13) X (1.8--)2.5--4(--7) cm, thin, base cuneate to obtuse, apex acuminate and mucronate. Inflorescences spicate-racemose, (3--)5--70-flowered; peduncle 0.5--1.5 cm, glandular; rachis glandular, (2--)3--8(--15) cm; bracts subovate, 4--6(--8) X (1--)1.5--2(--2.5) mm, apex acuminate; bractlets linear, ca. 2 X 0.5 mm. Calyx 1.0--1.2 cm, to 1.3 cm after anthesis, glandular almost throughout, tube ca. 2 mm in diam. at middle. Corolla white to pale bluish white, tube 1.8--2.2 cm, limb 1.6--1.8 cm in diam.; lobes obovate to oblong-lanceolate, ca. 7 X (2--)4 mm, apex mucronate to acuminate. Anthers blue, ca. 2 mm. Ovary ellipsoid, 5-angular. Style glabrous. Capsules pale yellow-brown, oblong. Seeds red-brown, ca. 7 X 1.5 X 0.6 mm, apex acute. Fl. Oct-Mar, fr. Dec-Apr. 2n = 28.

Plants herbaceous. Stems prost-rate, climbing, or erect, glabrous. Leaves petiolate (to 1.5 cm) or sessile; blade ovate, lance-elliptic, or spatulate to oblanceolate, (3-)5-9(-15) × (1-)2.5-4(-7) cm, base attenuate, apex acute, acuminate, or obtuse. Inflorescences 3-15(-30) cm, rachises glandular, viscid; floral bracts lanceolate, 3-7 × 1-2 mm. Flowers heterostylous; calyx 7-11(-13) mm, tube glabrous but with stalked glands along length of ribs; corolla white, 17-33 mm, tube 12.5-28 mm (less than 2 times length of calyx), lobes 5-12 × 3-3.5 mm; stamens included. Capsules 7.5-8 mm. Seeds reddish brown to dark brown, 5-6 mm.

A rambling shrub; branches woody, angular-striated. Leaves ovate, 7 cm long and 3 cm broad, acute, narrowing suddenly into the petiole; petiole l-2 cm long with a dilated amplexicaul base, glabrous or puberulous. Flowers rather densely arranged in 10-35 cm long, often branched spikes; rachis of the spike often pubescent or glandular. Bracts ovate, acute, 5-6 mm long, 3 times shorter than the calyx. Calyx tubular, 1-1.5 cm long, covered with stalked glands; limb 5-fid; teeth very short, corolla gamopetalous; tube 2 times longer than the calyx; limb white, 5-Iobed; lobes cuneate-retuse, shortly mucronate. Stamens free. Style slender glabrous. Described from India.

Distribution: Found throughout the tropics of the old world. In W. Pakistan and India found wild and in cultivation; readily spreading.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan [Hawaii, Old World tropics]

Ariz., Fla., Tex.; Mexico; Central America; South America; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands.

Tropical Africa, Tropical Asia.

100-1300 m

Fl.Per.: July-September.

Flowering year-round.

Palm groves, thickets, shady hummocks, shell mounds, rocky places in open areas; 0-50m.

100--1600 m.

Plumbago scandens Linnaeus

zeylanica: from Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

Scrambling or climbing perennial, up to 1.5 m. Leaves ovate-lanceolate to elliptic or oblong, glabrous; petiole clasping at the base. Flowers in terminal spikes, white, sweetly scented. Corolla lobes rounded with a small pointed tip; calyx covered in sticky glands.

Frequent

Widespread in tropics and subtropics

Plumbago zeylanica L

Plumbago zeylanica L., Sp. Pl., 151, 1753.—F. Brown, Flora, 222, 1935.

Scrambling, semi-shrubby, leaves ovate to oblong, acuminate, flowers white, about 1 cm across.

Rare in the Marquesas.

SPECIMENS SEEN.—Eiao I.: top of high ridge, 600 m, rare, Jones 1542C (BISH).

Nukuhiva I.: Henry in 1916 (P); Hakaheu, “très rare,” Herb. S.F.I.M. OS (P); Hatiehu, 6 m, Brown and Henry 669(BISH); Hakaui Valley, 50 m, PES (M & A) 644 (BISH) (very large-leafed, sterile).

Uahuka I.: Hane-Hokatu trail, 30–40 m, Decker 1374 (US). Hivaoa I.: 500 m, Brown SP (BISH, 2 sheets); Hanamenu, PES (M & A) 481 (BISH, LeB) sterile.

ETHNOBOTANY.—Marquesan names: Kahauta (PES 644), Kohuima (S.F.I.M. 133), kuna (PES 481), kaha (LeBronnec, MS, Uapou name). Said to have been used in medicine.

Plumbago zeylanica L

Plumbago zeylanica L., Sp. Pl. 151. 1753.—G. Forster, Prod. 14, 1786b.—Hooker and Arnott, Bot. Beech. Voy. 93. 1832.—Endlicher, Ann. Wien Mus. 1:167. 1836.—Guillemin, Ann. Sci. Nat. 7:192. 1837.—Pancher in Cuzent, Iles Soc. Tahiti 236. 1860.—Seemann, Fl. Vit. 194. 1866.—Nadeaud, Pl. Us. Tahiti. 31. 1864; Enum. Pl. Tahiti. 48. 1873.—Mann, Proc. Am. Acad. 7:189. 1867.—Lanessan, Pl. Ut. Col. Franc. 866. 1866.—Hillebrand, Fl. Haw. Is. 286. 1888.—Drake del Castillo, Ill. Fl. Ins. Pac. 7:225. 1892; Fl. Polyn. Franc. 117. 1892.—Butteaud, Fl. Tahiti. 70. 1891.—C.N. Forbes, Bish. Mus. Occ. Pap. 5(3):106. 1913.—Setchell, Univ. Cal. Pub. Bot. 12:200. 1926.—Wilder, Bish. Mus. Bull. 86:86. 1931.—F.B.H. Brown, Bish. Mus. Bull. 130:222. 1935.—Christophersen, Bish. Mus. Bull. 128:168. 1935.

Plumbago maximowiczii Gandoger, Bull. Soc. Bot. France 66:221. 1919 [new synonym].

DESCRIPTION.—Subshrub, or somewhat scandent, with alternate ovate leaves and terminal racemes or panicles of white flowers. Calyx glandular-viscid. In other localities the corolla may be pale blue.

Plumbago maximowiczii Gandoger, which has yet to be synonymized, is merely the erect form which is most common in Polynesia. It was described from Oahu.

TYPE.—From Ceylon.

RANGE.—Society Islands: Forster in 1774. Tahiti: Hombron in 1837–1840 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Vesco, lower forests, 1847 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Lépine 80, dry hills, 200–300 m, 1847 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Ribourt 33, ca. 1850 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Savatier 888, 1885 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Nadeaud 332, Faaa, Tipaerui, and Pare, Papeava, dry ravines and seashore, 1856–1859 (P, fide Drake del Castillo); Tilden 346, Paea, Papehue, June 1910, flower and fruit (BISH; MIN, 2 sheets); Setchell and Parks 70, Punaauia, Punaruu, 23 May 1922, flower and fruit (BISH, UC); Setchell and Parks 291, Paea, Papehue, 7 June 1922, flower (UC); Setchell and Parks 351, Punaauia, Punaruu, 14 June 1922, flower and fruit (UC).

Borabora: Grant 4051, Tevaitapu, Mt. Matahiuaa, alt. 245 m (810 ft), dry rocky cliffs, 9 January 1931, flower and fruit (BISH, MIN). Presumably indigenous, but possibly introduced by the natives. Found only on the drier hills and valleys close to the seashore, where it has a weedy appearance.

Common in Hawaii, Fiji, and the Marquesas, with one record from Samoa, and cultivated in Rarotonga. Ranges west to Australia, India, and Africa.

ETHNOBOTANY.—Tahitian: avaturatura. Called kahauta in the Marquesas, according to F.B.H. Brown, and ilieo in Hawaii (Hillebrand). According to Christophersen it is lau tafifi in Samoa, but that is merely a general Polynesian term for “vine.”

The root is used in native medicines. Nadeaud states that it is used externally to raise blisters (F.B.H. Brown reports the same in the Marquesas) and for indolent swellings. Mann records that the plant juices were used for tatooing in Hawaii.

Plumbago zeylanica, commonly known as Ceylon leadwort, doctorbush or wild leadwort, is a species of plumbago with a pantropical distribution. Carl Linnaeus described the paleotropical P. zeylanica and Neotropical P. scandens as separate species, but they are currently considered synonymous.