306 



Polemoniacece Ph lox. 



dens. The name is from (/>X<?, flame, in allusion to the bright- 

 coloured flowers. 



1. Ph. paniculata. A tall perennial with numerous slender 

 erect glabrous simple stems, ovate or oblong-lanceolate acumi- 

 nate leaves, and large terminal pan- 

 icles of flowers. Calyx-lobes slender, 

 finely pointed. Ph. acuminata (fig. 

 170) is a variety with the stems and 

 under-side of the leaves hairy, the 

 latter are also broader and more 

 pointed. This handsome species varies 

 in the colours of its flowers from lilac, 

 pink, or purple, to white, and, crossed 

 with the next, has given birth to the 

 numerous fine varieties now in culti- 

 vation. Many of these are strikingly 

 beautiful from the effective contrasts 

 of colour they exhibit. Some of the 

 white-flowered varieties especially, 

 with a crimson, violet, or purple eye, 

 are unsurpassed for brilliancy amongst 

 herbaceous plants. The self or uni- 

 coloured varieties range from the 

 purest white, through cream, salmon, 

 lilac, pink, and purple, to crimson, 

 and to these may be added many 



splendid bicoloured or variegated varieties. '/.,. 



2. Ph. maculata. This is very near the last, differing in 

 its narrower oblong panicle and scarcely-pointed calyx-lobes. 

 The stems are dwarfer and spotted with purple, and the flowers 

 sweet-scented. The normal tint of the flowers is purple, but 

 they vary in colour, and a white variety has been described as 

 a distinct species under the name of Ph. suaveolens. Then 

 there is the form with a more pyramidal inflorescence called 

 Ph. pyramidalis. The garden varieties of this and the pre- 

 ceding are so blended and intermixed that it is now impossible 

 to refer them to their respective species. Moreover, the 

 typical plants are almost unknown out of botanical collections. 

 Ph. decussata is a name applied to some of the hybrid varie- 

 ties. Ph. divaricata, syn. Ph. Canadensis, is a plant of more 

 straggling habit, with clammy oblong-ovate leaves and a loose 

 inflorescence of pale lilac or bluish flowers with notched petals ; 



Fig. 170. Phlox acuminate. 

 (J nat. size.) 



