POLEMONIACEAE

PHLOX FAMILY

Robert W. Patterson, Family Editor

Annual, perennial herb, shrub, vine
Leaves simple or compound, cauline (or most in basal rosette), alternate or opposite; stipules 0
Inflorescence: cymes, heads, or flowers solitary
Flower: calyx generally 5-ribbed, ribs often connected by translucent membranes that are generally torn by growing fruit; corolla generally 5-lobed, radial or bilateral, salverform to bell-shaped, throat often well defined; stamens generally 5, epipetalous, attached at same or different levels, filaments of same or different lengths, pollen white, yellow, blue, or red; ovary superior, chambers generally 3, style 1, stigmas generally 3
Fruit: capsule
Seeds 1–many, gelatinous or not when wet
Genera in family: 19 genera, 320 species: Am, n Eur, n Asia; some cultivated (Cantua, Cobaea (cup-and-saucer vine), Collomia, Gilia, Ipomopsis, Linanthus, Phlox )
Recent taxonomic note: *See also revised taxonomy of Porter and Johnson 2000 Aliso 19(1):55–91; Porter 1998 Aliso 17:83–85
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NAVARRETIA

Alva G. Day

Annual, generally erect; branches spreading or ascending, hairy, glandular or puberulent
Leaves simple, alternate, generally deeply pinnately lobed or entire
Inflorescence: head; bracts pinnately to palmately toothed or lobed, spine-tipped; flowers sessile or subsessile
Flower: calyx membranous between ribs, lobes 4–5, entire or toothed, unequal, spine-tipped; corolla lobes 4–5; stigmas 2 or 3
Fruit generally ovoid, chambers 1–3
Seeds 1–many per chamber, free or stuck together, brown, gelatinous when wet
Species in genus: ± 30 species: w North America, also in Argentina, Chile
Etymology: (F. Navarrete, Spanish physician, 1700's)

Native

N. prostrata (A. Gray) Greene

Plant prostrate with central head and radiating leaves and stems bearing heads
Stem generally leafless and glabrous except below heads, hairs recurved
Leaf > 2 X head diam, glabrous, 1–2-pinnately lobed from base to tip, axis 1–4 mm wide, lobes linear, pointed tipward
Inflorescence: bracts like leaves but shorter, hairy below, basal wing wide, membranous, ciliate, lower lobes 2–3-branched on back
Flower: calyx ribs hairy, tapered, tube slightly glandular at base, lobes glabrous, often 3-toothed; corolla 7–9 mm, blue to white, lobes linear, < 1 mm wide; stamens and style exserted, stigmas 2, minute
Fruit translucent, sticking to seeds until wet
Seeds 5–25, separating when wet
Ecology: Alkaline floodplains, vernal pools
Elevation: < 700 m.
Bioregional distribution: w San Joaquin Valley (Merced Co.), Inner South Coast Ranges, c South Coast (Los Angeles Co.), Peninsular Ranges (Santa Rosa Plateau)
Horticultural information: TRY.