plumbago noun. [plʌm'beɪgǝʊ] Pl. -os. E17.
[Latin, from plumbum lead (used to translate Greek molubdaina, from molubdos lead).]
1. a. An ore containing lead; usu. spec., litharge; occas., galena, minium. E-M17.
b. [By confusion with galena: cf. LEAD noun¹ 6.] Graphite, black lead. Also in Art. (chiefly Hist.), lead pencil (freq. attrib.). L18.

2. Any of various shrubs and herbaceous plants constituting the genus Plumbago (family Plumbaginaceae), with spikelike racemes of flowers having a tubular calyx and five-lobed corolla; esp. P. auriculata, a blue-flowered southern African plant grown for ornament. Also called leadwort. M18.

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