Polemonium Pulcherrimum, Showy Jacob's Ladder

Day 267: Stepping aside from the rare and unusual for a change, I'd like to share with you a lovely little wildflower which is fairly common, particularly on the east side of the Park. One of several "Jacob's Ladders" (so named for the arrangement of the leaves), Polemonium pulcherrimum is a compact plant which seldom achieves heights over eight inches. Its common name of Showy Jacob's Ladder describes its floral display quite accurately; the second half of its binomial comes from the same Latin root as another more descriptive English word, "pulchritude" (beauty). The inflorescences rise above the foliage in clusters of summery blue, their yellow eyes as bright as sunlight in open meadows, "showy" indeed and eminently beautiful in their subalpine setting.