Common Name: LEADWORT FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub [vine]. Leaf: simple, generally in basal rosette (cauline), entire or lobed. Inflorescence: raceme, cyme, or panicle (head-like in Armeria), generally scapose. Flower: bisexual, radial, generally small; calyx tubular, generally membranous or partly scarious, lobes 5, persistent; petals 5, +- free to +- fused, clawed, +- intertwined; stamens 5, opposite petals, occasionally epipetalous; ovary superior, generally 5-lobed or -ribbed, chamber and ovule 1, styles 5, occasionally fused. Fruit: utricle, achene, or capsule, +- enclosed in calyx.
Genera In Family: 27 genera, +- 1000 species: +- worldwide, especially Mediterranean, western and central Asia. Note: Some cultivated as ornamental (Limonium used as dried flower).
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert E. Preston & Elizabeth McClintock
Scientific Editor: Douglas H. Goldman, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: LEADWORT
Habit: Perennial herb to shrub. Stem: erect to prostrate or climbing. Leaf: cauline, sessile or short-petioled; blade elliptic to oblanceolate or spoon-shaped, base narrowed, margin entire, tip acute to obtuse. Inflorescence: terminal or axillary spike-like racemes or panicles; pedicels short. Flower: occasionally heterostylous; calyx with stalked, head-like glands; corolla 5-lobed, salverform; stamens included or exserted; style 1, included or exserted; stigmas 5, linear. Fruit: capsule, brown, long-beaked.
Etymology: (Latin, a lead-like ore, from historical use as cure for lead poisoning)
Reference: Smith 2005 FNANM 5:610--611