Skip to main content

Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Advanced Search

Polemoniaceae Juss.

Reference
Gen.Pl. [Jussieu] 136 (1789)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Common name. Phlox Family.

Habit and leaf form. Herbs, or shrubs (sometimes), or trees (Cantua). Annual to perennial; plants with neither basal nor terminal concentrations of leaves. Leaves alternate, or opposite, or whorled (Gymnosteris); when alternate, spiral; petiolate to sessile; simple, or compound; when compound pinnate, or palmate. Leaf blades when simple, dissected, or entire; pinnatifid, or palmately lobed; cross-venulate. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire, or serrate, or dentate. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary (sometimes), or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes, or in heads, or in corymbs. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences cymes or corymbs, sometimes condensed into heads; with involucral bracts, or without involucral bracts; pseudanthial, or not pseudanthial. Flowers bracteolate, or ebracteolate; regular (usually), or somewhat irregular; when irregular, slightly zygomorphic (then slightly bilabiate); 5 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present; intrastaminal; of separate members, or annular. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; five blunt-lobed; imbricate, or valvate; bilabiate to regular; persistent. Corolla 5; 1 -whorled; gamopetalous; usually contorted; campanulate, or funnel-shaped, or hypocrateriform; bilabiate to regular. Androecium 5. Androecial members adnate (epipetalous); free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; all alternating with the corolla members. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium (2–)3(–5) carpelled. The pistil (2–)3(–5) celled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth, or isomerous with the perianth. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious; superior. Ovary plurilocular; (2–)3(–5) locular. Gynoecium median. Ovary sessile. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1 (filiform). Stigmas (2–)3(–5); (2–)3(–5) - lobed. Placentation axile. Ovules 1–50 per locule (to ‘many’); sessile; apotropous; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent (usually), or indehiscent; a capsule (usually), or capsular-indehiscent. Capsules usually loculicidal. Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Cotyledons 2. Embryo chlorophyllous (2/3), or achlorophyllous (3 species of Polemonium); curved (slightly), or straight. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found. Photosynthetic pathway: C3.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Holarctic and Neotropical. World distribution: widespread, but lacking (though often introduced) in Africa, Southern and Southeast Asia Malaysia, Australia and Eastern South America. X = 6, 7, 8, 9. 300 species.