''Polemonium eximium'', the skypilot or showy sky pilot, is a

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

in the phlox family (

Polemoniaceae The Polemoniaceae (Jacob's-ladder or phlox family) are a family of flowering plants consisting of about 25 genera with 270–400 species of annuals and perennials native to the Northern Hemisphere and South America, with the center of diversity ...

) that grows at high altitudes (mostly above ).Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Elizabeth Horn, Mountain Press Publishing Co., , 1998, p. 126 It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

in California where it grows in the talus of the high mountain slopes.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed., 2013 Wildflower enthusiasts consider it to be among the best of the Sierra wildflowers, and highly rewarding to find.

Habitat and range

It mostly occurs at elevations from in the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada. It mostly occurs in colonies in stark surroundings, above , in rocky areas that appear mostly devoid of soil, and rarely in association with other plants. Most notably, it can be found at the upper reaches of Mt. Whitney, both via the main trail and mountaineer's route, as well as the southern flanks of Mt Langley in the

Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest poi ...

. Additionally, it resides near the summit of

Mount Dana Mount Dana is a mountain in the U.S. state of California. Its summit marks the eastern boundary of Yosemite National Park and the western boundary of the Ansel Adams Wilderness. At an elevation of , it is the second highest mountain in Yosemite ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

Description

Growth pattern

It is a sticky, aromatic smelling, tall

with a woody base, from which grows clumps of erect stems .

Leaves and stems

Basal leaves are glandular-hairy, long, and wide, each made up of 20–35 leaflets, which in turn are subdivided into 3–5 lobes.

Inflorescence and fruit

The showy

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a crowded head of many flowers. The bright deep blue to whitish-blue to pink-lavender flowers are fragrant. Each flower has a tubular calyx of hairy

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s and a funnel-shaped corolla spreading to lobes. The flowers are at full bloom for approximately one day apiece in the very short period of appropriate flowering conditions.The Outdoors Digest Field Guide - Sky Pilot
''Los Angeles Times''. The plant has a strong scent reminiscent of

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra. Cel ...

which attracts

pollinator A pollinator is an animal that moves pollen from the male anther of a flower to the female stigma of a flower. This helps to bring about fertilization of the ovules in the flower by the male gametes from the pollen grains. Insects are the maj ...

s to its short-lived flowers. It blooms from June to August.

References

External links

Photo gallery at CalPhotos
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7209290 eximium Endemic flora of California Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora without expected TNC conservation status