Plumbago (disambiguation)

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Plumbago is derived from the Latin word Plumbum meaning Lead - all the following meanings therefore have a reference to lead:

• Plumbago, a genus in the flowering plant family Plumbaginaceae, also known as leadwort.
• Used generically for lead ores such as galena and lead oxides such as Red lead.
• An old name for the mineral graphite, from its ability to make a smooth black mark like lead.
• Finely powdered graphite used in the commercial metal foundry industry, as a parting dust in high temperature foundry work. It is a slick powder that prevents sand from sticking to patterns, and to keep sand from sticking to itself. It is also used as a release agent for coating steel core pins when used in aluminum castings. Thomas Edison used the word plumbago to mean graphite. This misleading usage may have arisen from a confusion of powered graphite for powdered lead by somebody years before Edison.