334 POLEMONIACE^E 



cordate, polished, spotted with purple ; flowers an inch across, 

 yellow, and fringed. — Ditches communicating with the Thames, 

 and elsewhere in the south ; rare. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



Ord. LI. PolemoniAcejE. — The Jacob's Ladder Family 

 A small Order of herbaceous plants, often with showy flowers, 

 mostly natives of the western temperate parts of America, and 



unknown within the Tropics. 

 They have a deeply 5-cleft, 

 persistent, inferior calyx ; poly- 

 symmetric, 5-lobed corolla ; 

 stamens 5, inserted on the 

 corolla-tube ; ovary 3-cham- 

 bered ; style single ; stigma 

 3-cleft ; capsule 3-chambered, 

 3-valved. None of the species 

 possesses remarkable proper- 

 ties, but several are favourite 

 garden flowers, such as Phlox, 

 Polemonium, and Cobcea. 



1. Polemonium (Jacob's 

 Ladder). — Leaves scattered, 

 unequally pinnate ; calyx cam- 

 panulate ; corolla rotate ; 

 stamens bearded at the base 

 and lying on one side of the 

 flower ; chambers of the cap- 

 sule many-seeded. (Name, the 

 Greek name of the plant.) 



1. P. cceruleum (Jacob's 

 Ladder, Greek Valerian). — 

 The only British species, a tall, 



{Greek Valerian *mue™JacoVs Ladder). ^XtCX. plant, 1—2 feet high, with 



an angular, hollow stem ; 

 smooth, pinnate leaves with 13 — 25 leaflets ; and numerous blue 

 or white flowers, about an inch across, in a terminal cluster. — 

 Woods in the north ; rare. A common garden flower, not easily 

 rooted out where it has once established itself. — Fl. June, July. 

 Perennial. 



Ord. LII. BoRAGfNE^E. — The Borage Family 

 A considerable Order of herbs or shrubs, principally natives of 

 the warmer temperate regions of the Old World, with scattered 



