PHLOX FAMILY. 295 



LXXVI. POLEMONIACEJE, POLEMOMUM or PHLOX 

 FAMILY. 



Ours mostly herbs, with regular flowers, persistent 5-cleft 

 calyx, the 5 lobes of the mouopetalous corolla convolute in 

 the bud, 3-lobed style, 3-celled ovary and pod ; the single, few, 

 or many seeds in each cell borne on the thick axis. Embryo 

 straight in the axis of albumen. Insipid and innocent plants, 

 the juice watery. Nearly all are N. American plants, many 

 cult, for ornament. 



* Erect or diffuse herbs, not climbing, and with nothing resembling stipules. 

 +- Stamens unequally inserted on the tube of the corolla. 



1. PHLOX. Calyx narrow, prismatic or plaited, 5-toothed or 5-cleft. Corolla salver- 



shaped, with a long tube (Lessons, Fig. 255), in which the 5 short and unequally 

 inserted stamens are included. Ovary often with 2 ovules, but the short pod with 

 only one seed in each cell. Leaves entire and mostly sessile, the lower all opposite, 

 upper often alternate. 



-*- +- Stamens equally inserted in the corolla. 



2. LOESELIA. Corolla tubular or funnel form, more or less irregular from the limb being 



unequally cleft. Filaments naked and declined. 



3. GILIA. Calyx tubular or bell-shaped, 5-cleft. Corolla of various shapes. Stamens 



equally inserted and projecting from the throat of the corolla, not declined, generally 

 naked. Ovules and seeds several in each cell. Leaves either entire, cut, or divided. 



4. POLEMONIUM. Calyx bell-shaped. Corolla open-bell-shaped or short funnel form. 



Stamens slender, like those of Gilia, but declined, hairy-appendaged at the base. 

 Leaves pinnate, alternate. 



* * Tall-climbing by compound tendrils on the pinnate leaves ; lowest leaflets close to 

 the stem, unlike the others, imitating stipules. 



5. COB^EA. Calyx of 5 large leaf-like divisions, the margins of which, applied each to each, 



appear like 5 winged angles. Corolla bell-shaped, with short and broad spreading 

 lobes. Stamens declined. A fleshy disk around the base of the ovary. Seeds 

 numerous in each cell of the pod, winged. Peduncles axillary, 1-flowered, leafy- 

 bracted near the base, naked above. Leaves alternate. 



1. PHLOX. (Greek for flame, anciently applied to Lychnis, and trans- 

 ferred to these North American plants.) 



* 1J. Wild in mostly dry or rocky ground, some common in gardens. 



<- Stems erect; flowers in oblong or pyramidal panicle, with short pedun- 

 cles and pedicels; lobes of corolla entire, pink-purple, and with white 

 varieties; leaves flat, not subulate (mostly rather broad) . Wild from 

 Penn., S. and W. ; flowers summer. 



P. paniculata, Linn. Generally roughish or soft hairy, 2-4 high, 

 stout ; leaves oblong or ovate-lanceolate, and mostly with tapering base ; 

 panicle broad ; calyx teeth sharp-pointed. The commonest perennial 

 phlox of the gardens, cult, in many named varieties. Often known as 



P. DECUSSA.TA. 



P. maculata, Linn. Very smooth ; stem slender, l-2 high, purple- 

 spotted ; lower leaves narrower, and thickish, lanceolate, upper lance-ovate 



