Better Learning Through Botany

Exploring wetland ecology, scientific illustration, and native plants in the Pacific Northwest.

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    • What Are Wetland Praires
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      • Monocots
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          • Alismataceae
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          • Malvaceae
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Polemoniaceae

Polemoniaceae – Phlox

In our area, members of the Polemoniaceae are small, perennial and annual herbs, well adapted to wet as well as arid North American environments. Leaves are variable but are usually narrow, although they can be alternate or opposite, simple or compound.[i] An important nectar species for native pollinators, Phlox have colorful and delicate, radially symmetric flowers.[ii] Five sepals may seem separate, but are actually fused, surrounding five connected petals that are formed into a distinctive corolla tubes. [iii] Stamens are attached to the corolla and are alternate with the petals. Superior ovaries mature into capsules that usually open up to have three valves for seed dispersal. Inflorescences are a rounded head like cluster, cymes, or solidary blooms. Some genera found in Oregon’s upland prairies are particularly sticky (Collomia spp.) or have a strong skunk-like odor (Navarretia spp.).[iv]  

Naverretia intertexta –  Needle-leaf Pincushion Plant

NAIN.jpg Species Code: NAIN

Habit: Erect annual forb, prickly leaves, flower head is a terminal spiked ball, and lightly hairy stems that can reach up to 28 cm tall, but usually shorter.

Leaves: Alternately arranged, compound, pinnate leaves divided into many needle-like lobes.[v]

Flowers: Corolla is generally white, but sometimes light lavender to blue. Five lightly hairy sepals are semi-united, five petals fused into a long tube with five ovate terminal lobes.[vi] Petals extend beyond inflorescence hairs and spikey bracts, distinguishing this plant from co-occurring Navarretia willamettensis.[vii] One style, two stigmas connected to a superior ovary. Five stamens exerted beyond the corolla. Many flowers condensed into a dense, spikey inflorescence head surrounded by a sphere of pointed leaf bracts.[viii]

Fruits: Produces oblong three-chambered capsules with six to nine dark brown seeds in each chamber.

Ecology: Facultative Wetland Species (FACW), a Hydrophyte that occurs mostly in sites that are wet in spring but dry by late summer and tolerates dryer areas.[ix]

Notes: A short, easily identifiable plant found in vernal pool areas. Flower heads are sea-urchin like and turn brown when seeds are ripe for collection. May be confused with Willamette navarretia (Navarretia willamettensis), whose corollas are not exerted beyond the calyx and stamens do not extend past the corolla lobes. Can also be confused with Skunkweed (N. squarrosa), which is glandular and has a strong skunk-like smell.

Gilia capitata ssp. capitata – Bluefield giliaGICA

Microsteris gracilis MIGR

Navarretia squarrosa –  SkunkweedNASQ

 

 

[i] Gilkey, H. Handbook of Northwestern Plants, Revised Edition. Oregon State University Press; Corvallis, OR. 2001. 328.

[ii] Elpel, T. J., Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, 2004. 125.

[iii] Pojar, J., Mackinnon, A., Editors Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Lone Pine Publishing, Vancouver, Canada. 2004. 233.

[iv] Gilkey, H. Handbook of Northwestern Plants, Revised Edition. Oregon State University Press; Corvallis, OR. 2001. 331.

[v] Gilkey, H. Handbook of Northwestern Plants, Revised Edition. Oregon State University Press; Corvallis, OR. 2001.

[vi] Gilkey, H. Handbook of Northwestern Plants, Revised Edition. Oregon State University Press; Corvallis, OR. 2001.

[vii] City of Eugene, Seed Collection Manual, Naverretia intertexta, 2009

[viii] Gilkey, H. Handbook of Northwestern Plants, Revised Edition. Oregon State University Press; Corvallis, OR. 2001.

[ix] USDA Plants Database: <https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=NAIN&gt;

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Table of Contents

  • Menu
    • Home
    • Project Introduction
    • What Are Wetland Praires
    • Botanical Glossary
    • Illustrated Field Guide
      • Monocots
        • Forbs
          • Alismataceae
          • Amaryllidaceae
          • Asparagaceae
          • Iridaceae
          • Orchidaceae
          • Melanthiaceae – Death Camas
        • Grammanoids
          • Cyperaceae
          • Juncaceae
          • Poaceae
          • Typhaceae – Cattail Family
      • Dicots
        • Herbaceous
          • Apiaceae
          • Apocynaceae
          • Asteraceae
          • Boraginaceae
          • Brassicaceae
          • Campanulaceae
          • Caryophyllaceae
          • Fabaceae
          • Geraniaceae – Geranium Family
          • Lamiaceae – Mint Family
          • Malvaceae
          • Montiaceae
          • Onagraceae
          • Plantaginaceae
          • Polemoniaceae
          • Polygonaceae
          • Ranunculaceae
          • Rosaceae
          • Rubiaceae
          • Saxifragaceae – Saxifrag Family
          • Valerianaceae
        • Woody Plants
          • Oleaceae
          • Rosaceae
          • Salicaceae
      • Other
        • Equisetaceae
        • Isoetaceae
    • About the Author
    • Contact

Resources

  • Bridgham Lab at University of Oregon
  • Cal Flora
  • Cascadia Prairie Oak Partnership
  • City of Eugene Wetlands
  • City of Portland Weed ID Guide
  • Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
  • Current Plant Nomenclature
  • Institute for Applied Ecology
  • Ladybird Johnson Native Plant Center
  • Mount Pisgah Arboretum
  • Native American Ethnobotany Database
  • Native Community History of the Eugene Area
  • Native Plant Society Oregon
  • Oregon Flora Project
  • Oregon Flora Image Project
  • The Plant List
  • PNW Weed Identification Module
  • Practical Guidelines for Wetland Prairie Restoration
  • Roy Lab at University of Oregon
  • UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History
  • USDA Plants Database
  • University of Oregon Environmental Studies Program
  • Willow Creek Nature Conservancy Preserve
  • Willamette Resources & Education Network
  • Willamette Valley Native Plant Materials Network

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