• Family : PLUMBAGINACEAE
  (Leadwort Or The Plumbago Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : CHITRAK FAMILY (चित्रक फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : Plumbaginaceae
• Synonym(s) : Findlaya alba Bowdich; Molubda scandens (L.) Raf.
• Species Name (as per The IPNI) : Plumbago zeylanica L.
• Common name : White Plumbago, De Ceylon Lead wort, Ceylon leadwort, Lead wort, White leadwort, Wild Plumbago
• Vernacular name :
  • Chitra (Hindi)
  • Bili chitra mula (Kannada)
  • Chithiramoolam, Kodivaeli (Tamil)
  • Tella chitramulam, Chitramulam (Telugu)
  • Dhola chitaparu, Chintamani, Ogni, Chintapari (Oria)
  • Chitraka (Sanskrit)
  • Koduveli, Kottuveli, Thumbakoduveli, Vellakoduveli (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Habitat : Deciduous forests, also in the plains
• Comments / notes : Frequent in bushes
• Key identification features : Steam striate. Flowers white in long, spiciform racemes. Calyx sticky, densely glandular, persistent. Capsule oblong
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Andhra Pradesh : Throughout Andhra Pradesh
  • Karnataka : Bengaluru district, Ballari district, Vijayapura (Bijapur) district, Chikkamagaluru district, Dakshina Kannada district, Davanagare district, Dharwad district, Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) district, Hassan district, Kodagu (Coorg) district, Kolar district, Mysuru district, Shivamogga district, Tumakuru district, Udupi district, Uttara Kannada district
  • Kerala : All disricts of Kerala
  • Odisha : Throughout Odisha
  • Tamil Nadu : All districts of Tamil Nadu
  • Uttarakhand : Uttarakhand
  • Sikkim : Sikkim
  • Himachal Pradesh : Chamba district, Kangra district, Kinnaur district, Kullu district, Sirmaur district
  • Arunachal Pradesh : Dibang valley, Lohit, Siang
  • Meghalaya : Meghalaya
  • Assam : Assam
  • Nagaland : Nagaland
  • Delhi : Delhi
  • Haryana : Gurgaon district
  • Uttar Pradesh : Uttar Pradesh
  • Punjab : Punjab
  • Jammu and Kashmir : Jammu and Kashmir
  • Mizoram : Mizoram
  • Andaman and Nicobar Islands : Andaman Islands
  • Manipur : Manipur
  • Tripura : Tripura
• Native : Andaman Islands, Angola, Argentina Northwest, Arizona, Aruba, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Central African Repu, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Cub
• Exotic/Native : Native
• World Distribution : Pantropical
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature :
  • Pullaiah et al., 2011 - Flora of Eastern Ghats Vol. 4
  • J.L.Ellis, 1990- Flora of Nallamalais Vol. 2
  • H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 2
  • R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District
  • R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District
  • N.P.Singh, 1988. Flora of Eastern Karnataka
  • Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (1). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI
  • Saldanha & Nicolson, 1976 – Flora of Hassan District
  • Cecil J. Saldanha, S. R. Ramesh (1984). Flora of Karnataka State vol. 1. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co, New Delhi
  • Gowda, 2004 – Flora of Sringeri
  • Seetharam et al., 2000 – Flora of Gulbarga District
  • Rao & Razi, 1981 – A Synoptic Flora of Mysore District
  • Keshava Murthy & Yoganarasimhan, 1990 – Flora of Coorg District
  • Gopalakrishna Bhat, 2003 – Flora of Udupi District
  • Manjunath et al., 2003 – Flora of Davanagere District
  • Henry, Kumari & Chithra (1987). Flora of Tamilnadu, India vol. 2.
  • Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
  • Maheshwari K.J (1963). Flora of Delhi: 203
  • G.S Giri., A.Pramanik., H.J. Chowdhery., G.D Pal and S.K. Das (2008). Materials for Arunachal Pradesh, Vol (2), Pg: 99
  • H J, Chowdhery, et al. Flora of Himachal Pradesh. Volume 2, Botanical Survey of India, 1984. Pg.: 438
• Read more :
  • Plants of the World Online
  • World Flora Online
  • Global Plants on JSTOR
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Deepak Kumar (2024). India Flora Online. http://indiafloraonline-ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Plumbago zeylanica. Downloaded on 1 April 2025.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Line Drawings

Field Image(s)

India Distribution

World Distribution