830 POLEMONIACE^E. (POLEMONIUM FAMILY.) 



tcrnate pinnate leaves, the upper leaflets sometimes confluent; tho (bine or 

 white) corymbose flowers nearly bractlcss. (An ancient name, from TroXe/tos, 

 tear, of doubtful application.) 



1. P. rcptans, 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, W. Ne\v York to Wisconsin and southward. May. Smaller and 

 much fewer-flowered than the P. CLERtiLEUM, 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 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. paiiiciil:\ta, 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. ACUMINATA (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. maculafa, 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 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. pyramidalis, 

 Smith. Eich woods and river-banks, common from N. Pcnn. to Michigan, 

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



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

 corymbed 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-peel uncled ; 

 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. 



