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Jacob's ladders
Polemonium
Polemonium, commonly called Jacob's ladders or Jacob's-ladders (the name derived from the Biblical story), is a genus of between 25 and 40 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to cool temperate to arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. One species, Polemonium micranthum, also occurs in the southern Andes in South America. Many of the species grow at high altitudes, in mountainous areas. Most of the uncertainty in the number of species relates to those in Eurasia, many of which have been synonymized with Polemonium caeruleum.
Polemonium are perennial plants (rarely annual plants) growing 10–120 cm tall with bright green leaves divided into lance-shaped leaflets. They produce blue (rarely white or pink) flowers in the spring and summer.
43 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Jacob's ladder
speciesPolemonium reptans
Pretty Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium pulcherrimum
Blue Jacob's Ladder
speciesPolemonium caeruleum
California Jacob's ladder
speciesPolemonium californicum
sky pilot
speciesPolemonium viscosum
leafy Jacob's ladder
speciesPolemonium foliosissimum
Tall Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium acutiflorum
western Jacob's ladder
speciesPolemonium occidentale
Sierra Nevada Sky Pilot
speciesPolemonium eximium
annual polemonium
speciesPolemonium micranthum
Northern Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium boreale
Oregon polemonium
speciesPolemonium carneum
Rocky Mountain Jacob's Ladder
speciesPolemonium confertum
Elegant Polemonium
speciesPolemonium elegans
Bog Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium vanbruntiae
Brandegee's jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium brandegeei
Mount Eddy Sky Pilot
speciesPolemonium eddyense
Chinese Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium chinense
Alaska Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium villosissimum
Few-flowered Jacob's Ladder
speciesPolemonium pauciflorum
Polemonium caucasicum
speciesPolemonium caucasicum
White Mountains sky pilot
speciesPolemonium chartaceum
Polemonium apachianum
speciesPolemonium apachianum
Polemonium mexicanum
speciesPolemonium mexicanum
Polemonium grandiflorum
speciesPolemonium grandiflorum
Washington polemonium
speciesPolemonium pectinatum
Great Lakes Jacob's Ladder
speciesPolemonium lacustre
Nevada Jacob's-ladder
speciesPolemonium nevadense
Polemonium campanulatum
speciesPolemonium campanulatum
Polemonium pulchellum
speciesPolemonium pulchellum
elusive Jacob's ladder
speciesPolemonium elusum
Hanashinobu
speciesPolemonium kiushianum
Polemonium schmidtii
speciesPolemonium schmidtii
Polemonium × speciosum
hybridPolemonium × speciosum
Polemonium × victoris
hybridPolemonium × victoris
Polemonium sumushanense
speciesPolemonium sumushanense
Polemonium glabrum
speciesPolemonium glabrum
Polemonium hingganicum
speciesPolemonium hingganicum
Polemonium schizanthum
speciesPolemonium schizanthum
Polemonium majus
speciesPolemonium majus
Polemonium sachalinense
speciesPolemonium sachalinense
Polemonium brandegeei × viscosum
hybridPolemonium brandegeei × viscosum
Polemonium villosum
speciesPolemonium villosum
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Polemonium in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 48933.