PHLOX FAMILY. Polemoniaceae, 
PHIOX FAMILYE. Polewmowtaces 
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 Polemonaium, 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 
unusual-looking foliage. The juicy stem 
and tender, bright green leaves are smooth 
Jacob’s Ladder 
Polemonium 
occidentale (P. 
coeruleum) or hairy and the pretty flowers are nearly 
Blue three-quarters of an inch across, bright 
tee: rather purplish blue, paler inside and 
Northwest : ‘ : : 
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. carnéum, with flowers varying in color from salmon to 
purple, growing in the mountains of California and Oregon, 
but rather rare. 
384 

