Genus 



PHLOX FAMILY. 



63 



5. POLEMONIUM [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 162. 1753. 



Perennial or rarely annual herbs, with alternate pinnate membranous leaves, and mostly 

 large cymose-paniculate or thyrsoid flowers. Calyx herbaceous, not angled nor ribbed, cam- 

 panulate, 5-cleft to about the middle, accrescent in fruit, the segments lanceolate or ovate, 

 entire, erect or connivent over the capsule. Corolla tubular-campanulate or funnelform, 

 rarely rotate, blue, white or yellow, the limb 5-lobed. Stamens about equally inserted near 

 the base of the corolla, declined, the filaments slender, often pilose at the base. Ovary ovoid; 

 ovules few or several in each cavity. Capsule ovoid, obtuse, 3-valved. Seeds wingless, or 

 narrowly winged, mucilaginous and emitting spiral threads when wetted. [Name not 

 explained.] 



About 15 species, natives of the cooler parts of the north temperate zone. Besides the follow- 

 ing, some 10 others occur in the western parts of North America. Type species: Polemonium 

 coeruleum L. 



Anthers exserted ; flowers 8"-io" broad ; stem erect. 1. P. Van Bruntiae. 



Anthers included ; flowers 5" 6" broad ; stem reclining. 2. P. reptans. 



I. Polemonium Van Bruntiae Britton. 

 American Jacob's Ladder. Fig. 3480. 



Polemonium coeruleum A. Gray, Man. Ed. 4, App. 1863. 



Not L. 1753. 

 Polemonium Van Bruntiae Britton, Bull. Torr. Club 19: 



224. pi. 131, 1892. 



Rootstock stout, horizontal, clothed with fibrous 

 roots. Stems erect, glabrous below, somewhat 

 glandular-pubescent above, ii-2i high, leafy to 

 the top ; leaflets of the lower leaves short-stalked 

 or sessile, ovate or lanceolate, acute, *'-ii' long, 

 those of the upper fewer, the uppermost leaves 

 3-5-foliolate or simple ; cymose clusters panicled or 

 solitary, rather loosely 3-5-flowered ; pedicels 2"-4" 

 long; flowers bluish-purple, 8"-io" broad; corolla- 

 lobes rounded; calyx 5-lobed to about the middle, 

 much enlarged in fruit, the lobes acute ; stamens 

 exserted ; ovules 3 or 4 in each cavity ; capsule sev- 

 eral-seeded. 



In swamps and along streams, Vermont and northern 

 New York to Maryland. Differs from the Old World 

 P. coeruleum L. in its stout rootstocks, more leafy stem, 

 exserted stamens, and rounded corolla-lobes. May- 

 July. 



2. Polemonium reptans L. Greek Valerian. 

 Blue-bell. Fig. 3481. 



Polemonium reptans L. Syst. Ed. 10, no. I. i 759. 



Glabrous or very nearly so throughout, usually 



not more than 1 high; stems weak, slender, at 



length reclining or diffuse, the rootstock short. 



Leaflets oblong, ovate-oblong, or lanceolate-oblong, 



i'iY long, the uppermost leaves 3-5-foliolate or 



simple; flowers blue, s"-8" broad; calyx 5-lobed, its 



lobes obtuse or acute; stamens not exserted; ovules 



3 or 4 in each cavity ; seeds about 3 in each capsule. 



In woods. New York to Minnesota, south to Georgia 

 and Kansas. Ascends to 2200 ft. in Virginia. April- 

 May. American abscess-root. Sweat-root. American- 

 or creeping great-valerian. 



6. COLLOMIA Nutt. Gen. i: 126. 1818. 

 Annual or rarely perennial herbs, with alternate mostly entire leaves, and purple white 

 or reddish capitate or cymose flowers. Calyx obpyramidal or cup-shaped, 5-cleft, scarious in 

 the sinuses, accrescent in fruit, not distended by nor ruptured by the ripening capsule, its 



