Carried by 1 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Polemonium occidentale is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common name western Jacob's-ladder. There are two subspecies. The common ssp. occidentale is native to western North America from British Columbia to Colorado to California, where it can be found in moist areas of many habitat types, including meadows and woodlands. There is also a rare subspecies, ssp. lacustre, which is known only from a total of three counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and is found only in white cedar swamp habitat there. This is a rhizomatous perennial herb producing an erect stem up to one meter tall. The leaves are located along the stem, each divided into many small lance-shaped leaflets. The flower cluster is an open, elongated array of several bell-shaped, five-lobed flowers each up to 1.5 centimeters long. The flower corolla is blue to bright purple with a white throat.
Perennial herb
2 - 3 ft Tall
Upright
Moderate
Purple
Spring
Deep Shade, Partial Shade
High, Moderate
Moderate
Prefers loamy or clay soils. Grows poorly in sandy soils.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Moist places, meadows
Lodgepole Forest, Red Fir Forest, Subalpine Forest, Yellow Pine Forest, Wetland-Riparian