JACOB’S LADDER
Polemonium caeruleum

An old cottage garden plant and wild flower with bright blue or white flowers and yellow stamens. Growing to about 2 ft. in height, the plant as a whole resembles a bushy fern.   The leaves give the plant its name as they are divided like ladder rungs. The name "polemonium" comes from the Greek polemonion - a name used for a medicinal plant associated with the philosopher Polemos of Coppadocia. The Greek "polemos" means "war" and Pliny the Elder claimed that the name was taken from a war between two kings who both claimed to be the first to discover the plant's medicinal properties.
Jacob's Ladder was used in ancient times as a remedy for fevers, palpitations and hysteria. For some reason, cats particularly like this plant! Ancient Greek physicians prescribed Jacob's Ladder in wine as relief from toothache, dysentery and insect bites. Used in the nineteenth-century to treat syphilis and rabies. Has also been used for headaches and neuralgia. Boiled in olive oil the plant makes a black dye.