[Jacob's Ladders: The Genus Polemonium East of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington]

Elegant Jacob's-ladder, Elegant Jacob's Ladder, Elegant Polemonium, Sky Pilot

Polemonium elegans

The photo above shows the attractive flowers of elegant polemonium. Photographed at the summit of Little Mt. Adams on the southeastern flanks of Mt. Adams..........July 16, 2005.

Characteristics:

Elegant jacob's ladder is low growing perennial wildflower with short to elongated and branched stems from 6-15 cm high. Plants are densely glandular-haired. The compound pinnate leaves are 3-6 cm long with 15-27 leaflets, each broadly oblong, each from 4-8 mm long. The leaflets are opposite to slightly offset.

The flowers are arranged in small, tight clusters at the ends of the stems. The calyx is about 5.5-8.5 mm long with ovate lobes that are roughly the same length as the corolla tube. The narrowly funnel-shaped corolla is blue or violet with a yellowish throat. The tube is about 7-9 mm long while the lobes are about 5-6 mm long.

Habitat:

Elegant jacob's ladder may be found in open, rocky places at high elevations in the mountains.

Range:

Elegant jacob's ladder may be found in the Cascade Mts. of Oregon and Washington, the Wallowa Mts., and according to Peck, in the Pueblo Mts. of southeastern Oregon.

The photo above shows the cluster of basal leaves of elegant polemonium as seen at about 6700' along the Highline Trail #114 on the northern slopes of Mt. Adams........July 11, 2005. The densely glandular, pinnately compound leaves of sky-pilot bear more than 20 small, closely overlapping leaflets.

The photo above shows a large cluster of elegant polemonium as seen in the shadow of a cliff at 6700' on the Ridge of Wonders on the eastern slopes of Mt. Adams...........August 12, 2006.

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Elegant polemonium as seen at rocky point along the Teanaway Ridge Trail #1226 about one and one-half miles above its junction with the Iron Creek Trail #1351, Wenatchee National Forest............July 9, 2010.

Paul Slichter