294 POLEMONIACEAE. 



Gilia nuttallii Gray. Perennial, tufted from a woody base, somewhat 

 puberulent; stems erect, 10-30 cm. high, mostly simple; leaves sessile, opposite, 

 palmately parted into 3-7 segments, these linear, somewhat rigid, mucronate, 

 scabrous, 1-2 cm. long; flowers in a terminal dense cluster; calyx-lobes subulate- 

 lanceolate, rigid; corolla white, with yellow throat, the tube puberulent on the 

 outside, not exceeding the calyx, the lobes obovate, 6-7 mm. long; ovules 2 

 in each cell. 



Mount Rainier, at 2000 m. elevation, E. C. Smith; Goat Mountains, Allen. 



Gilia bicolor (Nutt.) Piper. Annual, pubescent; stems slender, 5-10 cm. 

 high, mostly simple; leaves palmately parted into thread-like sharp-pointed 

 divisions, 4-10 mm. long; corolla with a very slender yellow tube, 12-20 mm. 

 long, the small pink limb 6 mm. broad. 



In dry soil, common. 



Gilia gracilis (Dougl.) Hook. Annual; erect, usually simple, 10-30 cm. 

 high, branched above, glabrous below, pubescent and glandular above; leaves 

 sessile, entire, the lower opposite, oblong or obovate, 1-2 cm. long, the upper 

 alternate, lanceolate, acute, 2-4 cm. long; flowers solitary in the forks or axils, 

 short-pedicelled, somewhat cymose through the reduction of the leaves; calyx- 

 lobes subulate, mucronate, twice as long as the campanulate tube, this at 

 length splitting to the base; corolla tubular-salverform, 8-10 mm. long, the 

 tube yellow, not longer than the calyx-lobes, the limb purple-pink; stamens 

 unequally inserted; ovules and seeds solitary in each cell; seed-coats without 

 spiricles. 



Common in open ground. 



Gilia capitata Hook. Annual, glabrous or nearly so; stems slender, erect, 

 loosely branched, 20-60 cm. high; leaves alternate, once or twice pinnately 

 divided into very narrow segments; flowers pale blue, in dense globose clusters 

 terminating long naked peduncles; calyx-lobes lanceolate-acuminate, about as 

 long as the tube; corolla 8-10 mm. long, the oblong or linear lobes as long as 

 the tube, which is but little dilated in the throat; seeds developing mucilage 

 and spiricles when wetted. 



In sandy or gravelly soil, in open places. 



Gilia achilleaefolia Benth. Very similar to G. capitata; herbage slightly 

 pubescent; heads only moderately compact; calyx somewhat tomentose, 

 pubescent, its lobes ovate, spine-tipped, longer than the tube; corolla pale 

 blue, dilated in the throat, the lobes obovate or broadly oblong. 



Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to California, in sandy soil, not 

 common. 



407. POLEMONIUM. JACOB'S LADDER. 



Annual or perennial herbs; leaves alternate, pinnate, with 

 entire leaflets; flowers in corymbs, nearly bractless; calyx rotate 

 or campanulate, the tube very short; stamens equally inserted 

 at the summit of the corolla-tube; capsule few-several-seeded. 



Annual; corolla white, nearly rotate. P. micranthum. 



Perennial; corolla campanulate. 



Densely cespitose, 5-10 cm. high; herbage glandular. 

 Viscid-glandular throughout; flowers violet with yel- 

 low eye. P. elegans. 

 Less viscid, sparsely pilose throughout; flowers white 



or pale blue. P. mscosum. 



Loosely cespitose, 15-30 cm. high, scarcely glandular. 



Lobes of the calyx as long as the tube. P. humile. 



Lobes of the calyx twice as long as the tube. P. carneum. 



