PHLOX FAMILY. Polemoniaccae. 



PHLOX FAMILY. Polemoniaceae. 



Not a large family, most abundant in western North 

 America, a few in Europe and Asia; sometimes slightly 

 woody; the leaves without stipules; the flowers generally 

 regular; the calyx with five united sepals; the corolla with 

 five united petals, rolled up in the bud and often remaining 

 more or less twisted to one side in the flowers; the stamens 

 with slender filaments, with swinging anthers, often un- 

 equally inserted, on the tube or throat of the corolla and 

 alternate with its lobes; the ovary superior, with a slender 

 style and three-lobed stigma, but in immature flowers the 

 three branches are folded together so that the style appears 

 to have no lobes; the pod with three compartments, con- 

 taining few or many seeds, which are sometimes winged 

 and sometimes mucilaginous. 



There are a good many kinds of Polemonium, growing 

 in cool places, usually perennials; the leaves alternate, with 

 leaflets, not toothed; the calyx not ribbed or angled, bell- 

 shaped; the corolla more or less bell-shaped; the stamens 

 equally inserted, but often of unequal lengths; the seeds 

 mucilaginous when wet. This is the Greek name, used by 

 Dioscorides. 



A graceful plant, with attractive and 

 Jacob's Ladder unusual _i ooking foliage. The juicy stem 



Polemonium 



occidentcLle (P. anc ^ tender, bright green leaves are smooth 

 coeruleum) or hairy and the pretty flowers are nearly 



Blue three-quarters of an inch across, bright 



Newest rather purplish blue, paler inside and 



delicately veined with blue, with a yellow 

 "eye." The stamens are protruding, with white anthers, 

 and the pistil is long and protruding, even in quite small 

 buds. This is variable and grows in damp places in the 

 mountains, across the continent and also in the Old World. 

 The common name comes from the shape of the leaf and it 

 is also called Greek Valerian. Another handsome sort is 

 P. carneum, with flowers varying in color from salmon to 

 purple, growing in the mountains of California and Oregon, 

 but rather rare. 



384 



