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.
If more than one illustration is
available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two
subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below.
Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
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)
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.
