Jepson eFlora: Taxon page
Vascular Plants of California
Key to families | Table of families and genera
Previous taxon Index to accepted names and synonyms:
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M |
| N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Next taxon


Polemonium californicum


Higher Taxonomy
Family: PolemoniaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key
Common Name: PHLOX FAMILY
Habit: Annual, perennial herb, shrub, vine. Leaf: simple or compound, cauline (or most basal), alternate or opposite; stipules 0. Inflorescence: cymes, heads, clusters, or flower 1; bracts in involucres or not. Flower: sepals generally 5, fused at base, translucent membrane generally connecting lobes, torn by fruit; corolla generally 5-lobed, radial or bilateral, salverform to bell-shaped, throat often well defined; stamens generally 5, epipetalous, attached at >= 1 level, filaments of >= 1 length, pollen white, yellow, blue, or red; ovary superior, chambers generally 3, style 1, stigmas generally 3. Fruit: capsule. Seed: 1--many, when wetted swelling or not, gelatinous or not.
Genera In Family: 26 genera, 314 species: America, northern Europe, northern Asia; some cultivated (Cantua, Cobaea (cup-and-saucer vine), Collomia, Gilia, Ipomopsis, Linanthus, Phlox). Note: Leptodactylon moved to Linanthus.
eFlora Treatment Author: Robert W. Patterson, family description, key to genera, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Robert W. Patterson, Thomas J. Rosatti.
Genus: PolemoniumView DescriptionDichotomous Key


Habit: Annual, perennial herb. Stem: decumbent to erect, 10--100 cm, glandular-hairy, hairy, or glabrous. Leaf: pinnate-compound, alternate; basal petiole base membranous or not, sheathing or not; cauline sessile above; leaflets entire to divided, glabrous to glandular-hairy. Inflorescence: cyme or head. Flower: calyx bell-shaped, membranous in age but not separated into membrane and lobes, glandular-hairy; corolla rotate to funnel- or bell-shaped, tube << throat, lobes white to blue or purple; stamens attached at 1 level, filaments hairy at base; ovary generally +- 1 mm, +- 1 mm wide. Fruit: ovoid to spheric. Seed: <= 10, generally 1--3 mm, elliptic to ovate, +- gelatinous when wet, brown to black.
Etymology: (Greek: perhaps from Polemon, Athenian philosopher, or polemos, strife or war) Note: Perennial herb generally cross-pollinated, annual self-pollinated. Polemonium eddyense newly described; Polemonium pulcherrimum var. shastense newly recognized.
eFlora Treatment Author: Rebecca L. Stubbs, Ruth E. Timme & Dieter H. Wilken
Reference: Pritchett 1993 M.S. Thesis, San Francisco State Univ; Stubbs & Patterson 2013 Madroño 60:243--248
Unabridged Reference: Grant 1989 Bot Gaz 150:158--169; Pritchett & Patterson 1998 Madroño 45:200--209
Polemonium californicum Eastw.
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb, cespitose, soft-hairy; rhizomed. Stem: decumbent to erect, 12--25 cm, glandular-hairy. Leaf: +- basal, < 15 cm, 1--5 cm wide, cauline reduced or not, glandular-hairy; petioles 2--6 cm, bases not membranous, +- sheathing; leaflets 9--25, 10--25 mm, 5--15 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate, entire, terminal +- fused with adjacent pair. Inflorescence: open cyme, generally same level as highest leaves, 5--25-flowered; pedicel 1--7 mm. Flower: calyx 6--8 mm, lobes > tube, acute; corolla bell-shaped, limb 7--15 mm diam, throat 2--3 mm, lobes 3--4 mm, light to dark blue or purple; stamens 5 mm, included; pistil 4--7 mm, style exserted or not. Fruit: 2--4 mm, 2--3 mm wide. Seed: 6--10, brown. Chromosomes: 2n=36.
Ecology: Dry, open to shaded areas in montane forest; Elevation: 1600--3100 m. Bioregional Distribution: KR, CaRH, n&c SNH; Distribution Outside California: to Washington. Flowering Time: Jun--Aug Note: Self-incompatible. Intergrades with Polemonium pulcherrimum at high elevations in SNH.
Jepson eFlora Author: Rebecca L. Stubbs, Ruth E. Timme & Dieter H. Wilken
Reference: Pritchett 1993 M.S. Thesis, San Francisco State Univ; Stubbs & Patterson 2013 Madroño 60:243--248
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)

Previous taxon: Polemonium
Next taxon: Polemonium carneum

Name Search

Botanical illustration including Polemonium californicum

botanical illustration including Polemonium californicum

Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback

Citation for this treatment: Rebecca L. Stubbs, Ruth E. Timme & Dieter H. Wilken 2014, Polemonium californicum, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 2, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=38969, accessed on April 24, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 24, 2024.

Polemonium californicum
click for enlargement
©2009 Keir Morse
Polemonium californicum
click for enlargement
©2017 Aaron Schusteff
Polemonium californicum
click for enlargement
©2009 Barry Breckling
Polemonium californicum
click for enlargement
©2010 Keir Morse
Polemonium californicum
click for enlargement
©2010 Keir Morse

More photos of Polemonium californicum
in CalPhotos



Geographic subdivisions for Polemonium californicum:
KR, CaRH, n&c SNH
MAP CONTROLS
1. You can change the display of the base map layer control box in the upper right-hand corner.
2. County and Jepson Region polygons can be turned off and on using the check boxes.
map of distribution 1
(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).





 

Data provided by the participants of the  Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND
View all CCH records
All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
Yellow markers indicate records that may provide evidence for eFlora range revision or may have georeferencing or identification issues.
READ ABOUT YELLOW FLAGS


CCH collections by month

Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).