Polemonium reptans L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Polemoniaceae

• Scientific Name

  Polemonium reptans L.

• Description

  Species Description - Stems loosely clustered or solitary, slender, 2–5 dm, erect to diffuse, branched above; basal lvs long-petioled, cauline less so or the upper sessile; lfls oblanceolate to oblong or elliptic, 2–4(–7) cm, those of the principal lvs 7–17; infl few-fld, loose and open, the pedicels nearly as long to longer than the cal; cal 5–6 mm, the broadly triangular lobes nearly as long as the tube; cor campanulate, lobed to about the middle, the lobes entire; stamens shorter than the cor; 2n=18. Rich, moist woods; N.Y. to Minn., s. to Va., Ala., and e. Okla., most abundant w. of the mts. Apr.–June. (P. longii, a pathological form) Var. reptans, with nearly the range of the sp., has the infl and cal minutely puberulent and the stem usually glabrous; the cor is mostly 12–16 mm. Var. villosum E. L. Braun, local in s. O. and adj. Ky., and largely replacing var. reptans there, has the infl densely glandular- villous, the stem usually glandular-villous as well, and the cor mostly 8–12(–13) mm.

• Common Names

  spreading Jacob's ladder