3S0 



POLEMONIACE^. (POLEMONIUM FAMILY.) 



ternate pinnate leaves, the upper leaflets sometimes confluent; the (blue or 

 white) coi-ymbose flowers nearly bractless. (An ancient name, from TroXejuor, 

 war, of doubtful application.) 



1. P. rSptans, L. (Jacob's Laddek.) Smooth, weak, diifusely branched 

 (6'- 10' high) ; leaflets 7-11, ovate-lanceolate or oblong ; corymbs few-flowered ; 

 flowers (blue) nodding ; calyx-lobes acute ; pods about 3-seeded. Ij. — Shady 

 river-banks, W. New York to Wisconsin and southward. May. — Smaller and 

 much fewer-flowered than the P. ciEKtjLEUM, which is common in gardens. 



2. PHLOX, L. Phlox. 



Calyx narrow, somewhat prismatic, or plaited and angled. Corolla salvcr- 

 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. (3>X6^, flame, an ancient name of Lychnis, transferred to this 

 North American genus. ) 



* Stem strictly upright : panicle pyramidal or oblong, manyflowered ; peduncles and 



pedicels very short : lobes of the corolla entire . 



1. P. paniculata, 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, J«Y., &c.) — Var. acuminata (P. acuminata, 

 Pursh) has the broader and taper-pointed leaves beneatli downy, like the stem, 

 which is also sometimes rough-hairy and occasionally spotted below. — Rich 

 woods, fi'om Penn. to Illinois, and southward. June, July. — Common in gar 

 dens. Flowers pink-purple, varying to white. 



2. P. maciilata, L. (Wild Sweet-William.) Smooth, or barely 

 roughish; stem spotted with purple, rather slender (l°-2° high) ; lower leaves 

 lanceolate, the upper nearly ovate-lanceolate, tapering to the apex from the 

 broad and rounded or somewhat heart-shaped base ; panicle nairow, 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. — Rich woods and river-banks, common from N. Penn. to Michigan, 

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



* # Stems ascending or upright, often from, a decumbent base ; flowei's in terminal 

 corymbed cymes ; the whole plant smooth and glabrous : lobes of the corolla round 

 and entire : calyx-teeth short, triangiikir-lanceclate. 



3. P. Carolina, L. Stems ascending (J°-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-peduncled ; 

 calyx-teeth acute. — Var. ovAta, Benth., has broad leaves (P. ovata, L). Var. 

 NfTiDA, 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 I ' broad, pink-purple. 



