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Polemonium

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This article is about the plant species, for the ancient city named Polemonium, see Fatsa.

Polemonium
Polemonium carneum
Scientific classification
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Genus:
Polemonium

Type species
Polemonium caeruleum
Species

See text.

Polemonium, commonly called Jacob's ladder, is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Polemoniaceae, native to cool temperate to arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and also in the southern Andes in South America. Many of the species grow at high altitudes in mountains.

They are perennial plants (rarely annual plants) growing 10–120 cm tall with bright green leaves divided into lance-shaped leaflets, and produce blue (rarely white or pink) flowers in the spring and summer.

Polemonium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora polemoniella.

Selected species

External links