Herbs, with alternate or opposite leaves, regular 5-merous and 5-androus flowers, the lobes of the corolla convolute in the bud, a 3-celled ovary and 3-lobed style; capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal, few–many-seeded, the valves usually breaking away from the triangular central column.—Seeds amphitropous, the coat frequently mucilaginous when moistened and emitting spiral threads. Embryo straight in the axis of copious albumen. Calyx persistent, imbricated. Corolla with a 5-parted border. Anthers introrse. (Insipid and innocent plants; many are ornamental in cultivation.)
1. Phlox. Corolla salver-form. Calyx narrow. Leaves opposite, entire.
2. Gilia. Corolla tubular-funnel-form or salver-form. Calyx narrow, partly scarious. Leaves mostly alternate, entire.
3. Polemonium. Corolla open-bell shaped. Calyx herbaceous, bell-shaped. Filaments slender, equal. Leaves alternate, pinnate or pinnately parted.
1. PHLOX, L.
Calyx narrow, somewhat prismatic, or plaited and angled. Corolla salver-form, with a long tube. Stamens very unequally inserted in the tube of the corolla, included. Capsule ovoid, with sometimes 2 ovules but ripening only a single seed in each cell.—Perennials (except a few southern species, such as P. Drummondii of the gardens), with opposite and sessile perfectly entire leaves, the floral often alternate. Flowers cymose, mostly bracted; the open clusters terminal or crowded in the upper axils. (Φλόξ, flame, an ancient name of Lychnis, transferred to this North American genus.) Most of our species are cultivated in gardens.
§ 1. Herbaceous, with flat (broad or narrow) leaves.
[*] Stem strictly erect; panicle pyramidal or oblong, many-flowered; peduncles and pedicels very short; corolla-lobes entire. (Very common in gardens.)
1. P. paniculàta, L. Stem stout (2–4° high), smooth; leaves oblong-lanceolate and ovate-lanceolate, pointed, large, tapering at the base, the upper often heart-shaped at the base; panicle ample, pyramidal-corymbed; calyx-teeth awn-pointed; corolla pink-purple varying to white.—Open woods, Penn. to Ill., south to Fla. and La. June, July.
2. P. maculàta, L. (Wild Sweet-William.) Smooth, or barely roughish; stem spotted with purple, rather slender (1–2° high); lower leaves lanceolate, the upper nearly ovate-lanceolate, tapering to the apex from the broad and rounded or somewhat heart-shaped base, panicle narrow, oblong, leafy below; calyx-teeth triangular-lanceolate, short, scarcely pointed; corolla pink-purple.—Rich woodlands and along streams, N. J. and N. Penn. to Minn., south to Fla. and Ark.—Var. cándida, Michx., is a white-flowered form, commonly with spotless stem. With the ordinary form.