Ceratostigma Bunge

Greek keras—horn, in reference to the horned stigma.

Perennial herbs with woody bases or occasionally shrubs. Leaves alternate with whiskered edges. Flowers in dense terminal or axillary one-sided clusters with reddish brown bracts at the base. Sepals 5, fused to form a tube, 10-nerved at the base and without glandular hairs. Petals fused at the base into a slender tube with 5 spreading lobes, usually blue. Stamens joined to the middle of the floral tube. Fruit a capsule splitting into 5 valves.

C. griffithii C.B. Clarke is sometimes available (see key for character distinctions).

Stamens attached to the petals; sepals without glandular hairs.

About 8 species from Himalaya, China and Africa (Ethiopia, Somaliland).

Lawrence (1954).

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Plumbaginaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Caryophyllanae
order      Caryophyllales
family       Plumbaginaceae
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
species         Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Bunge
species         Ceratostigma willmottianum Stapf