The Plant
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Summer w/Flowers |
Winter |
The Flowers
Description
"Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, commonly called plumbago or leadwort, is a wiry, mat-forming perennial which spreads by rhizomes to form an attractive ground cover. Typically grows 6-10" tall on generally erect stems rising from the rhizomes. Oval to obovate, shiny, medium green leaves (to 2" long) turn bronze-red in autumn. Terminal clusters of 5-petaled, gentian blue flowers (1/2 to 3/4" diameter) appear above the foliage over a long summer to frost bloom period. Flowers resemble those of woodland phlox.
Genus name comes from the Greek words keras meaning a horn and stigma from the hornlike projection on the stigma of the flower.
Specific epithet means resembling the genus Plumbago."(missouribotanicalgarden.org)
Internet Resources