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Polemoniaceae

Classification Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order Type: Eudicots-Basal Asterids Order: Ericales Family: Polemoniaceae Family Common Name: Phlox Family Genera: Phlox, Polemonium Defining Features: Seed coat often sticky when wet. Defining Morphology: Floral Features: Flowers are showy, bisexual and usually actinomorphic. Inflorescences are determinate, axillary or terminal, solitary in small cymose or clusters of dense heads. Perianth is 5-merous, lobed and fused, stamens epipetalous and alternate with corolla lobes. Ovaries are superior with an annular nectary disk and axile placentation. Fruit and Seed Features: Dicotyledon. Fruit a capsule. Seeds are with straight or slightly curved embryo and copious. Seeds are often mucilaginous when moist. Endosperm oily. Vegetative Features: Habit as perennial/annual herbs, shrubs, lianas or small trees. Leaves alternate, opposite or whorled, simple or pinnately compound with no stipules. Distribution: Mainly North America but also Chile, Peru, Europe and N. Asia. Economic Use: As cultivated garden ornamentals. Number of Genera Globally: 26 Number of Species Globally: 380

Comments, Questions, Desire to Support: Contact Mo Fayyaz, Greenhouse/Garden Director.

File last updated: 2011.

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