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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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POLEMONIUM

Dieter H. Wilken

Annual, perennial herb
Stems decumbent to erect, 1–10, 1–10 dm, glandular, hairy
Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; basal petioled; cauline sessile upward; leaflets entire to divided, glabrous to glandular
Inflorescence open to head-like
Flower: calyx bell-shaped, membranous in age but not separated into membrane and ribs, glandular; corolla rotate to funnel-shaped, white to blue or purple; stamens attached at same level, filaments hairy at base
Fruit ovoid to spheric
Seeds 3–10 per chamber, generally 1–3 mm, elliptic to ovate in outline, slightly gelatinous when wet, brown to black
Species in genus: ± 20 species: Am, Eurasia
Etymology: (Greek: perhaps from Polemon, Athenian philosopher, or polemos, strife or war)
Reference: [Grant 1989 Bot Gaz 150:158–169]
Pers generally cross-pollinated, anns self-pollinated.

Native

P. eximium Greene

SKY PILOT

Perennial, hairy
Stem erect, < 4 dm
Leaves generally basal, narrowly oblong in outline; petioles sheathing, green, not membranous; leaflets > 11, < 6 mm, deeply 3–5-lobed; lobes generally oblanceolate, glandular, appearing as whorled leaflets
Inflorescence head-like; pedicels < 6 mm
Flower: calyx 5–10 mm, lobes ± = tube, oblong, rounded; corolla 11–15 mm, funnel-shaped, tube > lobes, white, throat and lobes blue; stamens and style included
Ecology: Rocky outcrops, talus
Elevation: 3000–4200 m.
Bioregional distribution: c&s High Sierra Nevada
Horticultural information: DFCLT.

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