23; see text Plumbago is a genus of 23 species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world.

The flowers are white, blue, purple, red, or pink, with a tubular corolla with five petal-like lobes; they are produced in racemes.

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.

[3] The generic name, derived from the Latin words plumbum ("lead") and agere ("to resemble"), was first used by Pliny the Elder (23-79) for a plant known as μολύβδαινα (molybdaina) to Pedanius Dioscorides (ca.

[4][5][6] This may have referred to its lead-blue flower colour[citation needed], the ability of the sap to create lead-colored stains on skin,[7] or Pliny's belief that the plant was a cure for lead poisoning.