'330 polemoniace^e. (polemonium family.) 



ternate pinnate leaves, the upper leaflets sometimes confluent; the (blue or 

 white) corymbose flowers nearly bractlcss. (An ancient name, from iri>\epo$, 

 war, of doubtful application.) See Addend. 



1. P. piptans, L. (Jacob's Ladder.) Smooth, weak, diffusely branched 



(6'- 10' high) ; leaflets 7-11, ovate-lanceolate or oblong ; corymbs few-flowered ; 

 flowers (blue) nodding; calyx-lobes acute; pods about 3-secded. 1J. — Shady 

 river-banks, YV. New York to Wisconsin and southward. May. — Smaller and 

 much fewer-flowered than the P. ciEKfjLEUM, which is common in gardens. 



2. PHLOX, L. Phlox. 



Calyx naiTow, somewhat prismatic, or plaited and angled. Corolla salver- 

 form, with a long tube. Stamens very unequally inserted in the tube of the 

 corolla, included. Pod ovoid, with a single seed in each cell. — Chiefly peren- 

 nials, with opposite and sessile perfectly entire leaves, the floral often alternate. 

 Flowers cymosc, mostly bractcd ; the open clusters terminal or crowded in the 

 upper axils. (4>Xo^, flame, an ancient name of Lychnis, transferred to this 

 North American genus.) 



# Stem strictly upright: panicle pyramidal or oblong, many-flowered : peduncles and 



pedicels very short : lobes of the corolla entire. 



1. P. I>aniculata, L. Stem stout (2° -4° high), smooth; leaves ob- 

 long-lanceolate and ovate-lanceolate, pointed, large, tapering at the base, the 

 upper often heart-shaped at the base; panicle ample, pyramidal-corymbed ; calyx- 

 teeth aion-pointed. (P. undulata, Ait., &c.) — Var. acuminXta (P. acuminata, 

 Pursh) has the broader and taper-pointed leaves beneath downy, like the stem, 

 which is also sometimes rough-hairy and occasionally spotted below. — Ivich 

 woods, from Penn. to Illinois, and southward. June, July. — Common in gar- 

 dens. Flowers pink-purple, varying to white. 



2. P. maculata, L. (Wild Sweet-William.) Smooth, or barely 

 roughish ; stem spotted with purple, rather slender (l°-2°high); lower leaves 

 lanceolate, the upper nearly ovate-lanceolate, tapering to the apex from the 

 broad and rounded or somewhat heart-shaped base ; panicle narrow, oblong, leafy 

 below ; calyx-teeth triangular-lanceolate, short, scarcely pointed ; corolla purple 

 (sometimes white, when it is P. suaveolens, Ait.). Lower branches of the pani- 

 cle rarely elongated, so as to become pyramidal, when it is P. pyramididis, 

 Smith. — Kich woods and river-banks, common from N. Penn. to Michigan, 

 Kentucky, and southward : very common in gardens. June. 



* * Stems ascending or upright, often from a decumbent base ; flowers in terminal 

 oorymbed cymes : the whole plant smooth and glabrous : lobes of the corolla round 

 and entire : calyx-teeth short, triangular-lanceolate. 



3. P. Carolina, L. Stems ascending (£°- 2° high), often from a pros- 

 trate base; leaves oblong-lanceolate, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, and sometimes 

 heart-shaped at the base, acute or pointed ; flowers crowded, short-peduncled ; 

 calyx-teeth acute. — Var. ovata, Benth., has broad leaves (P. ovata, L). Var. 

 NfTiDA, Benth., has narrower leaves (P. nitida, Pursh.), and verges to the next. 

 — Woods, W. Penn. to Michigan, Virginia, and southward. June, July.— 

 Corolla 1' long; the limb 1' broad, pink-purple. 



