PHLOX FAMILY. 295 



LXXVI POLEMONIACEiE, POLEMONIUM or PHLOX 

 FAMILY. 



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

 calyx, the 5 lobes of the monopetalous 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. Kearly 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 6-cleft. Corolla salver- 



shaped, witli a long tube (Lessons, Fig. 255), In which the 6 short and unequally 

 insei-ted 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. LffiSELIA. Corolla tubular or funnel form, more or less iri-egular from the Umb being 



unequally cleft. Filaments naked and dechned. 



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-shai)ed or short funnel form. 



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

 Leaves pinnate, alternate. 

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

 the ste7n, unlike the others, imitating stijndes. 



5. COH.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 Jtame, anciently applied to Lychnis, and trans- 

 ferred to these North American plants.) 



* 2/ Wild in mostly dry or rocky (/round, name common in gardens. 



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

 cles and pi'dicels ; lobes of corolla e)itire, pink-purple, and with lohite 

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

 Fenn., S. and W. ; floioers summer. 



P. paniculata, Linn. Generally ronghish or soft hairy, 2^-4° high, 

 stout ; leaves dblong or ovate-lanceolate, and mostly with Uipering base ; 

 panicle Ijroad ; calyx teeth sharp-pointed. The conmione.st perennial 

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

 P. dkcissAta. 



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

 spotted : Inwer leaves narrower, and thicki.sh, lanceolate, upper lance-ovate 



