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Natural
History Showy Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) Richard Hebda INDEX for Native Plants This text was originally published in Coastal Grower (formerly The Island Grower) in Victoria, British Columbia. For subscription information, please call Susanne Steele at the Coastal Grower at 250-478-0825. The meadows and mountains of British Columbia's interior harbour hundreds of attractive wildflowers. Many of these are hard to grow in gardens, but others occupy settings that suggest that they might well be suited to cultivation. Their adaptability and beauty identifies them as candidates for high profile restorations of disturbed plots. Our widespread Showy Jacob's ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum) has the potential to play such a role. Jacob's ladders (Polemonium species) are perennial herbs in the Phlox Family (Polemoniaceae). Showy Jacob's ladder grows from a branched tap root that produces a many-leaved cluster from its crown. Each leaf consists of numerous oval-shaped leaflets about 1-3.5 cm long (0.4-1.6"). The leaflets are arranged as if stacked one above the other giving the appearance of a ladder or steep stairs. This distinctive arrangement recalls the ladder that Jacob ascended to heaven in the Book of Genesis, hence one of the common names. Another common name (skunk-weed) reveals that when the leaves are crushed you should prepare to hold your nose! Leaves and stems are covered in sticky hairs. Flower stalks arise from the centre of the leaf cluster and reach 30-50 cm (12-20") tall. Flashy bunches of bluish, five-petalled blooms adorn the stalks. The petals join at the base and form a shallow cup. The centre of the flower shines a cheerful yellow. Five stamens surround a single pistil within the bloom. Flowers appear from late spring well into the summer, especially at high elevations. Jacob's ladder grows throughout most of British Columbia, but is especially abundant east of the Coast and Cascade ranges. Its range extends southward throughout the mountains of the U.S. too. It occupies sites from mid to high alpine elevations. The plant grows in sunny to shaded sites in many habitats including open forests, meadows, open slopes and alpine ridges. Disturbed stony and sandy soil of roadsides, fields and river beds are a favourite haunt. The scratched up ground under some of our interior power lines support thousands of showy Jacob's ladders. This beautiful perennial makes a superb garden plant. Collect the seeds when ripe and sow in sandy well-drained soil in the fall. When the plants are sufficiently large to handle, transplant them to a sunny stony bed in the garden. You can naturalize this delightful species by broadcasting its seeds onto suitable sites, such as road sides and gravelly slopes. Once established, showy Jacob's ladder spreads on its own by seed. Smaller plants transplant easily especially late in the season. Native peoples of the southern interior prepared species of Jacob's ladder to make a head and hair wash. European Jacob's ladders were grown in gardens for centuries because they were considered to have a wide range of medicinal values. One of the species could be used for "malignant fevers and pestilential distempers" according to the herbalist Culpepper. It helped with trembling, palpitations of the heart, vapours, nervous complaints and headaches. The technical term Polemonium derives from the Greek polemonion, a name used originally for a medicinal plant associated with the philosopher Polemos of Cappadocia. In Latin, the species name pulcherrimum means most handsome -- a name it deserves without question!
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