Polemonium confertum, June 9, 2025
Common & scientific name
Sky pilot, Polemonium viscosum and Rocky Mountain sky pilot, Polemonium confertum
Family
Phlox, Polemoniaceae
Location
Summit, 12,100’
Fun, weird, helpful, or little known fact
If you’ve ever been scrambling along a rocky alpine ridge and swore you smelled a skunk, you were (sort of) correct! Sky pilot, a common but striking tundra flower, sometimes goes by the name “Skunkweed,” owing to the strong odor it sometimes puts out.
The photos here is of P. confertum—with widely flaring, light blue or blue-purple flowers, compared to P. viscosum, with more tubular and deeper purple flowers.