File:Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 12 (1934) (20500530070).jpg

Title: Contributions from the Botanical Laboratory, vol. 12
Identifier: contributionsfro12univ (find matches)
Year: 1934 (1930s)
Authors: University of Pennsylvania. Botanical Laboratory; University of Pennsylvania. Morris Arboretum
Subjects: Botany; Botany
Publisher: Philadelphia : (s. n. )
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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Phlox glaberrima tergrades with Phlox Carolina on the one hand and with P. maculata—the next to be taken up—on the other. From the former it is best distin- guished by its more numerous nodes, narrower leaves, and shorter calyx; it is also developed chiefly at lower altitudes. The stem of P. maculata has still more nodes, and its inflores- cence tends to be elongate-conical in- stead of corymbose; its range is on the whole more northern. The first published reference to this Phlox was that of Plukenet in 1705, and he indicated it to have reached him from Florida; to this day English horticulturists term it Phlox florid ana, although as already pointed out this name properly be- longs to an entirely different plant. About the same time Clayton found it in Virginia, and sent seeds or living material to Gronovius, who in turn contributed it to Clififord's garden. Here it was seen by Linnaeus, and when he came to divide the vegetable kingdom into genera in 1737, he based the genus Phlox on this plant. What appears to be Clayton's original lo- cality has recently been rediscovered in Chesterfield County, Virginia. In Europe it has been continuously cul- tivated since these early days, but in America it is almost unknown. No horticultural varietal designa- tions seem to have come into use in connection with this species; that the application to it of the species name floridana is quite erroneous has al- ready been pointed out. The term glahcrrinm occasionally gets applied to glabrous phases of other species of Phlox, but should be used only for the narrow-leaved long-styled plant here discussed. Phlox maculata. Meadow Phlox. The dispersal-center of this species appears to have been located in the Ohio valley, perhaps near the bound- ary of Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. From there it has spread south into North Carolina and Ten-
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Phlox maculata nessee, but reports of it in more southern states, even in Florida, have no foundation. On the west it has reached southeastern Minnesota, and on the east the southern part of Que- bec and western Connecticut; escapes from cultivation are also known at several places in New England and New York. It grows chiefly in moist meadows or on alluvial flats along streams, exhibiting no preference for any particular degree of soil acidity. Its species name refers to the purple spots which are frequently present on its stems, but this can not safely be used as a diagnostic character, be- cause on some individual plants spots are lacking, and on the other hand the stems of several other species of Phlox are often more or less spotted. Its real distinguishing features are the slender horizontal rootstock, absence of all prostrate sterile shoots, com- pletely deciduous habit, numerous nodes on the flowering stem, smooth leaves with obscure lateral veins, grouping of the cymes of flowers into a long cylindric or conical panicle, and short calyx. Though listed by Plukenet as early as 1700, it apparently found its way into horticulture only about 40 years later, when it was sent to Collinson by a Dr. Witt (from eastern Penn- sylvania?) Since then it has re- mained in cultivation to some extent both in Europe and America, although considerable nomenclatorial confusion has arisen in connection with its color- forms and other variations. This has resulted in part from the tendency to apply the name maculata to any Phlox showing purple spots on its stem, and in part from the use of independent names for what can scarcely be regarded as more than varieties. The more important of these names will now be discussed. alba. An albino phase of the northern, early blooming variety of the species. Candida, A similar albino of the more southern and later-blooming va- riety. Horticultural names for this

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