Polemonium californicum

[ChrisB]

Sowed this seed Jan 2019.  NARGS wild collected. It is already flowering but isn’t 20cm tall.   Does anyone know if it’s short just because it’s new and will get taller in future years?  Lovely little thing...

[Maggi Young]

I believe  P. californicum is  one  of those  cute  short polemonium species, Christine.

Yes, thought so ...

Polemonium californicum Eastw.
NATIVE
Habit: Perennial herb, cespitose, soft-hairy; rhizomed. Stem: decumbent to erect, 12--25 cm, glandular-hairy. Leaf: +- basal, < 15 cm, 1--5 cm wide, cauline reduced or not, glandular-hairy; petioles 2--6 cm, bases not membranous, +- sheathing; leaflets 9--25, 10--25 mm, 5--15 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate, entire, terminal +- fused with adjacent pair. Inflorescence: open cyme, generally same level as highest leaves, 5--25-flowered; pedicel 1--7 mm. Flower: calyx 6--8 mm, lobes > tube, acute; corolla bell-shaped, limb 7--15 mm diam, throat 2--3 mm, lobes 3--4 mm, light to dark blue or purple; stamens 5 mm, included; pistil 4--7 mm, style exserted or not. Fruit: 2--4 mm, 2--3 mm wide. Seed: 6--10, brown. Chromosomes: 2n=36.
Ecology: Dry, open to shaded areas in montane forest; Elevation: 1600--3100 m. Bioregional Distribution: KR, CaRH, n&c SNH; Distribution Outside California: to Washington. Flowering Time: Jun--Aug Note: Self-incompatible. Intergrades with Polemonium pulcherrimum at high elevations in SNH.
Jepson eFlora Author: Rebecca L. Stubbs, Ruth E. Timme & Dieter H. Wilken
Reference: Pritchett 1993 M.S. Thesis, San Francisco State Univ; Stubbs & Patterson 2013 Madroño 60:243--248

http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=38969

[ChrisB]

Thanks Maggie. Going to gather seed, it’s so nice. All my tall ones blow over in the wind, so annoying ...  was concerned whether it’s annual, flowering so soon from germination.  Hope I can get seed so I can grow more ...

[Carolyn]

Chris,
A good short polemonium to try is Polemonium "Northern Lights", which I think must be a sterile hybrid, so no deadheading or weeding out millions of seedlings. It is sweetly scented too.

[ChrisB]

It’s much taller in growth than this wee thing Carolyn.  I have grown that one, but this one has flowers sitting right on top of the foliage, never forming a tall stem at all.  It is so sweet...

[arisaema]

P. viscosum is nice and short too, seems to take any soil conditions, and only gently seeds around.

[ChrisB]

I got in touch with Dianne Nichol Brown, the NC holder, scientific status.  She says correct name is P. pulcherrimum ssp californicum, and that P. pulcherrimum subsp californicum is the largest and most vgourous of the geographical subspecies and is definitely perennial, but does require either snow cover or protection in mild winters from rain. I have some similar coming from seed but not in flower yet, however by definition it is a native of California , although I have seen subsp. delicatum in Colorado many times, usually growing on gravelly streambanks and requiring similar growing conditions at 8-10,000ft.  So I now think mine is something other than that as it is very low growing.  Thought I’d post this here for reference purposes ...