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Ceratostigma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Plumbaginaceae
Genus:	Ceratostigma Bunge
Species
See text

Ceratostigma (pronounced /ˌsɛrətɵˈstɪɡmə/,^[1] from the Greek Κερατόστιγμα), or Leadwort, Plumbago, is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Common names are shared with the genus Plumbago.

They are herbaceous plants, subshrubs, or small shrubs growing to 0.3-1 m tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 1-9 cm long, usually with a hairy margin. Some of the species are evergreen, others deciduous. The flowers are produced in a compact inflorescence, each flower with a five-lobed corolla; flower colour varies from pale to dark blue to red-purple. The fruit is a small bristly capsule containing a single seed.

Selected species

• Ceratostigma abyssinicum (Hochst.) Schwein. & Asch.
• Ceratostigma griffithii C.B.Clarke
• Ceratostigma minus Stapf ex Prain
• Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Bunge
• Ceratostigma ulicinum Prain
• Ceratostigma willmottianum Stapf

Cultivation and uses

C. plumbaginoides is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens for its pale blue flowers and bright red autumn leaves.

References

• Flora of China: Ceratostigma
• Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.

From Wikispecies

Ceratostigma may mean:

• In the Regnum Animalia - Ceratostigma Li Fasheng, 2002 (Psocoptera : Psocidae)
• In the Regnum Plantae - Ceratostigma Bunge (Magnoliophyta : Plumbaginaceae)