Plumbago is an extremely reliable, resilient plant which has been popular for home gardens as well as for commercial landscapes for many years. Plumbago may be found in gardens all over the world, and was apparently popular as a standard pot plant in Europe. In nature plumbago is a scrambling shrub, about 3m x 3m. It grows in scrub and thicket (valley bushveld). The new growth is bright green, darker when mature. The leaves are thin in texture and have minute gland dots. The leaf stalk is winged at the base, and clasps the stem. Underneath the leaves are greyish green, sometimes with whitish scales apparently for light reflection. Throughout the year the bush is covered with pretty trusses of purple to blue flowers. The main flowering period is between November and May. The distribution ranges from the southern Cape, Eastern Cape and into KwaZulu-Natal. It appears in Gauteng and the adjacent areas of the Free State and North West Province. There is also an isolated distribution in Mpumalanga. Plumbago shares a habitat with Tecoma capensis, the Cape Honeysuckle. The name Plumbago is derived from plumbum meaning lead – referring to it being a supposed cure for lead poisoning. Plumbago is visited by butterflies and is one of the larval foods plant for the common blue butterfly (Cyclyrius pirithous) which is apparently fairly common in gardens as a result of the popularity of plumbago as a garden plant. Children often make “earrings” with the sticky flowers – letting them stick to their earlobes. Plumbago is used traditionally to treat warts, broken bones and wounds. It is taken as a snuff for headaches and as an emetic to dispel bad dreams. A stick of the plant is placed in the thatch of huts to ward off lightning.