306 Polemoniacce—Phlox. 
dens, The name is from $¢é, flame, in allusion to the bright- 
coloured flowers. 
1. Ph. paniculata.—A tall perennial with numerous slender 
erect, glabrons simple stems, ovate or oblong-lanceolate acumi- 
nate leaves, and Teves terminal pan- 
icles of flowers. Calyx-lobes slender, 
finely pointed. Ph. acuminita (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 tbe 
purest white, through cream, salmon, 
as ye ea lilac, pink, and purple, to crimson, 
and to these may be added many 
splendid bicoloured or variegated varieties. 
2. Ph. muculata.—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. suavéolens. 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. Canadénsts, 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 ; 
