Polemonium elegans

Elegant Jacob's Ladder

Elegant Jacob's Ladder
aka Sky Pilot. High elegance! While the rich blue flowers of P. elegans are similar to the lower elevation Showy Jacob’s Ladder, P. californicum, the leaves form shapes with even more resemblance to a ladder. The leaves consist of many pairs of small ‘ladder-rung’ leaflets which are only about 1/4″ (6 mm) and overlap. They crowd together to create leaves that look like braided mouse tails. Usually found on high ridges between 7,000′ to 10,000′ elevation.

Family:

Polemoniaceae - PHLOX FAMILY

Genus:

Polemonium derived from Greek polemos 'war'

Species:

elegans means 'elegant'
Photo location: Mt. Fremont Trail at approx. 7275’ midway between Frozen Lake and the Lookout (approx. 46.93114 N, 121.67469 W). The last photo shown in seed is from the Panorama Point trail out of Paradise.