Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Sticky Polemonium
Polemonium viscosum
Phlox family (Polemoniaceae)

Sky Pilot is a magnificent, uplifting, eye-opening surprise on 12,000 foot and . It has blue violet long tubular flowers in hanging clusters and is usually surrounded by dozens of finger-like projections of very finely cut leaves that come from underground roots spreading the plant. Large mats of leaves produce few flowers. The plant may have a sweet or a pungent, not pleasant skunky odor.

Sky Pilot has a look-alike twin in Colorado (Polemonium confertum) which is very difficult to distinguish from Sky Pilot. The two species do hybridize making precise identification even more problematic. P. viscosum was first collected near the headwaters of the Platte River by Thomas Nuttall on his 1834-1837 western wanderings; he named and described the plant in 1848. "Viscosum" is Latin for "sticky." See Leafy Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium foliosissimum) and Pretty Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium pulcherrimum).


©2009 John Brew

Description

plants spreading from branching (woody base of an otherwise plant). Stems to about 10" inch tall, , stem leaves sparse. to 3/4" long. very numerous, most or all of them cleft to the base or nearly so. Flowers several to many in dense clusters. of shorter than the tube. funnel-shaped to over an inch long, longer than wide, dark blue purple to light blue. commonly shorter than the . a .

Field Marks

Low growing very leafy plant with hanging clusters of sky blue tubular flowers.

© Al Schneider

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

tundra -- Land above tree line characterized by a short growing season, intense sun and wind, thin soils, very high snow fall and high rain fall. Contains low growing sedges, grasses, dwarf shrubs and herbs.

Glands are plant structures that secrete liquids, salts or other substances. Glands often appear as hairs with a drop of liquid at the end.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

scree -- field of small, loose, slab rock. Common high on mountains.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

caudex -- The woody stem base of some herbaceous perennials.

leaflets -- Each little leaf-like thing in a compound leaf is a leaflet.

alpine -- above the tree line. Thin soil, rocks, short growing season, frost, winter snow.