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Polemonium carneum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Polemonium carneum
Polemonium carneum in southern Oregon
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Polemoniaceae
Genus: Polemonium
Species:
P. carneum
Binomial name
Polemonium carneum

Polemonium carneum is a plant native to the northwestern United States west of the crest of the Cascade Range, from Washington south through Oregon to the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

Etymology

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Common names include royal Jacob's-ladder,[1] great polemonium, Oregon polemonium and salmon polemonium.

Habitat

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It grows in the lowlands and in prairies to moderate elevations in the mountains, and inhabits woody thickets, open and moist forests, prairie edges, and roadsides.[2]

Description

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This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing one or more stems decumbent in form or erect to a maximum height near one meter. The leaves are compound with up to 21 leaflets each. The sticky-haired leaflets are somewhat lance-shaped and up to 4 centimeters long. The inflorescence is an open, spreading cluster of 3 to 7 flowers each borne on a thin peduncle. The flower is widely bell-shaped with a five-lobed corolla that may spread to nearly 3 centimeters wide. The flower corolla may be any shade of pale pink, salmon pink, yellow, or pale lavender to medium purple.[2]

The plant is sometimes grown in gardens as an ornamental.

References

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  1. ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "​Polemonium carneum​". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Royal Sky Pilot, Polemonium carneum". calscape.org.
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