Polemonium

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

Read about Polemonium in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Polemonium (ancient name, not explained; probably not from Greek polemos, war, but rather the philosopher Poleman). Jacob's Ladder. Greek Valerian. Polemoniacex. Flower-garden herbs, with pinnate leaves and pretty blue, purplish white or yellowish flowers. Perennials, rarely annuals or bjennials, tall or dwarf, often viscid, often with a creeping rhizome which is thick or slender: lvs. alternate, odd-pinnate or pinnati- sect: fls. in racemes or thyrse-like panicles; calyx increasing after anthesis; corolla tubular, funnel-shaped, broadly bell-shaped or subrotate, 5-lobed, the lobes mostly obovate; stamens 5, alternate, with corolla-lobes inserted near the base, included or exserted: caps. 3- valved. Closely allied to Gilia and distinguished by the declinate stamens and the filaments usually pilose- appendaged at the base.—Brand, in the recent monograph (Engler's Pflanzenreich, IV. 250, hft. 27, 1907) accepts 29 species; mostly W. N. American, extending into Mex., but also in Eu., Asia and 2 in. S. Amer. This genus includes the Jacob's ladder, P. caeruleum, an old-fashioned inhabitant of cottage gardens, which owes its popular name to the regular manner in which the numerous leaflets are arranged on the long leaves. It is a hardy perennial herb, growing 1 to 3 feet high and bearing five-lobed bell-shaped flowers of blue or white, and nearly an inch across. Probably the finest species, however, is the plant known to all gardeners as P. Richardsonii, which is a form of P. humile (or P. lanatum) that has doubled or trebled in size in cultivation. A fine specimen of P. Richardsonii may have a terminal cluster 6 1/2inches across and 5 inches deep, with two dozen flowers each 1 1/4 inches across. P. confertum differs in the great density of its inflorescence, and by connoisseurs in alpine plants may be regarded as a very fine species. Most of the yellow- flowered forms are disappointing. Polemoniums are of easy culture in any deep rich loamy soil. P. caeruleum and P. reptans do well in partly shaded places not too dry. Polemoniums are easily raised from fall-sown seed. Also propagated by division. They are said to be impatient of soil on the leaves. INDEX. album, 4, 9. humile, 4. pulcherrimum 5 caeruleum, 9 lanatum, 4 pumilum 5 carneum, 7. mellitum 3 reptans 6 confertum, 2, 3. occidentale 9 Richardsonii 4 foliosissimum, 8. pauciflorum 1 Van-Bruntiae 9 grandiflorum, 9. pulchellum, 4 variegatum 9 himalayanum 9. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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