Polemonium pulcherrimum ssp. delicatum
(Jacob’s Ladder)
Polemoniaceae (Phlox Family)

Montane, subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.

Because of the skunk-like smell of these plants, one might think that the name "Polemonium" referred  to "pole"-cat (skunk), but the name is more probably for either the Greek Philosopher, Polemon, or from the Greek  "polemos" meaning "strife":  Pliny the Elder indicated that a war was fought over who actually discovered this plant! 

The name "Pulcherrimum" is from the Greek for "very beautiful" and was given to this plant by William Jackson Hooker in 1830 from a specimen collected by Thomas Drummond in his 1825-1827 Canadian Rockies explorations.