POLEMONIACE^E. (POLEMONIUM FAMILY.) 



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

 white) corymbose flowers nearly bractless. (An ancient name, from xroXe/ios. 

 war, of doubtful application.) See Addend. 



1. P. reptailS, L. (JACOB'S LADDER.) Smooth, weak, diffusely branched 

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

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

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

 much fewer-flowered than the 1*. oajRtiLEUM, which is common in gardens. 



2. PHLOX, L. PHLOX. 



Calyx narrow, 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 cymose, mostly bracted ; the open clusters terminal or crowded in the 

 upper axils. ($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. pailiculata, 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 awn-pointed. (P. undulata, Ait., &c.) Var. ACUMIN\TA (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. Rich 

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

 dens. Flowers pink-purple, varying to white. 



2. P. macillata, L. (WiLD SWEET-WILLIAM.) Smooth, or barely 

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

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

 broad and rounded or somewhat heart-shaped base ; panicle nairow, 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. pyramidalis, 

 Smith. llich 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 

 corymbed cymes : tlie 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-peduneled ; 

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

 NfxiDA, 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. 



