Jacob's Ladder plant

   The Jacob's Ladder is a familiar garden plant of the phlox family. The stem is erect, from one to three feet high. The name is derived from the regular order in which nine to twenty-one leaflets are arranged on the long leaf stem. The stamens and style are exserted beyond a bright blue, bell-shaped corolla. In the northeastern part of the United States, the species is found wild only on mountains and in swamps, but it is abundant in the meadows of the Rocky Mountains and far northward.
   The Jacob's Ladder plant is also known as Charity.