Vol. hi.] 



PHLOX FAMILY. 



41 



3. POLEMONIUM I,. Sp. PI. 162. 1753. 



Perennial or rarely annual herbs, with alternate pinnate membranous leaves, and mostly 

 large cymose-paniculate or thyrsoid flowers. Calyx herbaceous, not angled nor ribbed, 

 campanulate, 5-cleft to about the middle, accrescent in fruit, the segments lanceolate or 

 ovate, entire, erect or counivent over the capsule. Corolla tubular-campanulate or tubular- 

 funnelform, rarely rotate, blue, white, or yellow, the limb 5-lobed. Stamens about equally 

 inserted near the base of the corolla, declined, the filaments slender, often pilose at the 

 base. Ovary ovoid; ovules few or several in each cavity. Capsule ovoid, obtuse, 3 valved. 

 Seeds wingless, or narrowly winged, mucilaginous and emitting spiral threads when wetted. 



About 15 species, natives of the cooler parts of the north temperate zone. Besides the follow- 

 ing, some 10 others occur in the western parts of North America. 



1. P. Van Brnntiae. 



2. P. reptans. 



Anthers exserted; flowers 8"-io" broad; stem erect. 

 Anthers included; flowers 5" -6" broad; stem reclining. 



i. Polemonium Van Bruntiae Britton. 

 American Jacob's L,adder. (Fig. 2992.) 



Polemonium coerulenm A. Gray, Man. Ed. 4, App. 



1863. Not L. 1753- 

 Polemonium Van Bruntiae Britton, Bull. Torr. Club, 



19: 224. pi. iji. 1892. 



Rootstock stout, horizontal, clothed with fibrous 

 roots. Stems erect, glabrous below, somewhat 

 glandular-pubescent above, i^-2^ high, leafy 

 to the top; leaflets of the lower leaves 15-19, 

 short-stalked or sessile, ovate or lanceolate, acute, 

 Yx'-'i-Yz' long, those of the upper fewer, the upper- 

 most leaves 3-5-foliolate or simple; cymose clus- 

 ters panicled or solitar}-, rather loosely 3-5-flow- 

 ered; pedicels 2 // -4 // long; flowers bluish-purple, 

 8 // -io // broad; corolla-lobes rounded; calyx 5- 

 lobed to about the middle, much enlarged in fruit, 

 the lobes acute; stamens exserted; ovules 3 or 4 

 in each cavity. 



In swamps and along streams, Vermont and north- 

 ern New York to Maryland. Differs from the Old 

 World P. coeruleum L,. in its stout rootstocks, more 

 leafy stem, exserted stamens, and rounded corolla- 

 lobes. May-July. 



2. Polemonium reptans L,. Greek 

 Valerian. (Fig. 2993.) 



Polemonium reptans L. Syst. Ed. 10, no. 1. 1759. 



Glabrous or very nearly so throughout, usually 

 not more than i high; stems weak, slender, at 

 length reclining or diffuse, the rootstock short. 

 Leaflets oblong, ovate-oblong, or lanceolate-ob- 

 long, ^ / -i_J^ / long, the uppermost leaves 3-5-foli- 

 olate or simple; flowers blue, 5 // -S // broad; calyx 

 5-lobed, its lobes obtuse or acute; stamens not 

 exserted; ovules 3 or 4 in each cavity. 



In woods, New York to Minnesota, south to Georgia 

 and Missouri. Ascends to 2200 ft. in Virginia. April- 

 May. 



4. COLLOMIA Nutt. Gen. i: 126. 1818. 



Annual or rarely perennial herbs, with alternate mostly entire leaves, and purple white 

 or reddish capitate or cymose flowers. Calyx obpyramidal or cup-shaped, 5-cleft, scarious in 

 the sinuses, accrescent in fruit, not distended by nor ruptured by the ripening capsule, its 



