General: Perennial herb from a branched stem-base atop a taproot; stems loosely erect to sprawling, clustered, spreading glandular-hairy especially in the inflorescence, sometimes nearly smooth elsewhere, foul-smelling if rubbed, 5-35 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves tufted and well-developed, pinnately compound with 11 to 25 egg-shaped to circular, opposite or offset leaflets, glandular-hairy when young; stem leaves few, reduced.
Flowers: Inflorescences crowded, terminal head-like clusters of long-stalked flowers; corollas blue, rarely white, with yellow centres, bell-shaped, 7-13 mm long, the 5 rounded lobes equalling to nearly twice as long as the tube; calyces 4-7 mm long, the 5 lobes lance-oblong.
Dry to mesic, rocky slopes and ridges, gravelly or sandy terraces, meadows, roadsides and open forests in the montane to alpine zones; common in BC in and east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains, also known from a single location in the Queen Charlotte Islands; N to AK, YT and NT, E to SW AB and S to CO and CA.
Ecological Framework for Polemonium pulcherrimum var. pulcherrimum
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
