Polemonium eximium

Polemonium eximium is a species of flowering plant in the genus which includes the Jacob’s Ladders. Its common name is skypilot. It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada in California where it grows in the talus of the high mountain slopes. It occurs at elevations between 3000 and 4200 meters where few other plants grow. This perennial herb forms clumps of erect stems approaching 40 centimeters in maximum height. Surrounding the stems are nearly cylindrical leaves each made up of many leaflets, the leaflets subdivided into lobes. The herbage is hairy and hairy in texture. The showy flower cluster is a headlike cluster of several flowers. Each flower has a tubular calyx of hairy sepals and a funnel-shaped corolla in shades of pale to bright or deep blue with a whitish throat. The flowers are at full bloom for approximately one day in the very short period of appropriate flowering conditions. The plant has a strong scent reminiscent of urine which attracts pollinators to its short-lived flowers.