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. jepsonii Jeps.

JEPSON'S NAVARRETIA

Stem 10–15 cm, reddish, densely white-puberulent
Leaf glabrous or slightly puberulent, 1–2-pinnate; axis and lobes needle-like
Inflorescence: bracts dark red, coarsely white-hairy below, lobes gland-dotted
Flower: calyx coarsely white-hairy below, ribs strap-shaped, wider at base than membrane, lobes sometimes toothed; corolla 9–11 mm, tube and throat white, lobes 2–3 mm, purple with darker basal spot; stamens and style exserted; stigmas 2
Fruit: chamber 1; valves 8, dehiscing in lower half
Seed 1
Ecology: UNCOMMON. Open, grassy or clay flats, serpentine areas
Elevation: 400–800 m.
Bioregional distribution: Inner North Coast Ranges
Horticultural information: TRY.