Showy jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) is a perennial in the phlox family that grows from a long taproot.

• It is a taprooted perennial, growing up to about 30 cm.
• Several stems each have sticky hairs.
• Basal leaves are sticky and smelly, narrow, and numerous.
• Multiple leaflets are arranged in a ladder-like array.
• Purple-blue clustered flowers are showy with yellow centers.
• All photos taken by the author. Click an image for lightbox view and caption (location).

• Capsules form after flowering. Seeds are dispersed in late summer and the stems die back by fall.
• Found on dry open mesic slopes, open areas in the forest, and rocky hillsides.
• There are separate shorter varieties that grow in subapine zones
• We enjoy finding this wildflower in bloom in late spring and in higher zones in early summer.
• It is one of the easiest flower to photograph if we have good light and we pick flowers in the same plane for sharp focusing.

We are looking forward to the first sightings of jacob’s ladder in bloom.