Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Polemonium californicum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names moving polemonium, low Jacob's ladder, and California Jacob's ladder. It is native to the northwestern United States, where it grows in shady and moist habitat, such as mountain woodlands. It is a hairy, hairy rhizomatous perennial herb forming clumps of several decumbent to erect stems 30 to 50 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are up to 20 centimeters long and are compound, made up of several pairs of oval to lance-shaped leaflets. The leaflet at the tip of the leaf is often fused to the pair behind it. The flower cluster is a crowded cluster of bell-shaped flowers each up to 1.5 centimeters wide. The flower is blue or purple with a yellow center and a whitish tubular throat. The fruit is a capsule.

Plant type

Perennial herb

Size

1 - 2 ft Tall

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade, Deep Shade

Water

High, Moderate

Sunset Zones

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18

Site type

Open places

Plant communities

Lodgepole Forest, Red Fir Forest, Subalpine Forest