Polemonium micranthum is a species of flowering plant in the phlox family known by the common names annual polemonium or annual Jacob's-ladder. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to North Dakota to California as well as disjunct in the Andes of southern Argentina and Chile. It can be found in many types of shrubby habitat, such as sagebrush scrub and foothill woodlands. It is an annual herb with a branching or unbranched stem taking a matted, spreading, or upright form. The slender stems are up to about 30 centimeters long and the herbage is coated in short, soft hairs and stalked glands. The leaves are located along the stem, each divided into several small leaflets. The solitary flowers have small white or pale blue lobed corollas tucked within cuplike calyces of hairy, pointed sepals.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Polemonium micranthum has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens11
Marker genes5
GenBank sequences10
eDNA detections8
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK1★rbcL3★rbcLa★ITS6★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPolemonium micranthum carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin7.41 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type1 209 records
Wild obs. + sensor473
Museum / vouchered736
Origin
Native1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO3 008 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy97% within 1 km
≤100 m 337≤1 km 28≤10 km 6>10 km 7
378 georeferenced · 95 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor473
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy62% within 1 km
≤100 m 31≤1 km 172≤10 km 117>10 km 9
329 georeferenced · 407 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence736
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions51 of 64 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Pullman, US
105
WTUlocation not on record
85
Corvallis, US
75
Bronx, US
63
Moscow, US
41
Victoria, CA
34
Santa Barbara, US
27
Caldwell, US
19
Logan, US
18
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
17
Missoula, US
16
Castelar, AR
15
Boise, US
15
Claremont, US
15
Henderson, US
14
Wuzhou, CN
11
ASUlocation not on record
11
CASlocation not on record
10
Vancouver, CA
9
Bend, US
8
Cheney, US
7
Flagstaff, US
7
UChlocation not on record
6
Arcata, US
5
Riverside, US
5
IDElocation not on record
5
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
4
Angwin, US
4
Kew, GB
4
Provo, US
4
Turku, FI
3
San Luis Obispo, US
3
Corrientes, AR
3
Bozeman, US
3
Beijing, CN
3
Bangkok, TH
3
Santa Cruz, US
3
Pocatello, US
3
San Diego, US
3
Davis, US
3
San Francisco, US
2
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
2
Phoenix, US
2
San Isidro, AR
2
Los Angeles, US
2
Tampa, US
2
Ashland, US
2
Valparaiso, CL
2
Mexico City, MX
1
Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record
1
Saint Louis, US
1
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
1
Turlock, US
1
Whitehorse, CA
1
Universidad Nacional de La Pampalocation not on record
1
Pretoria, ZA
1
Edinburgh, GB
1
Bloomington, US
1
Tacoma, US
1
B.A. Bennett Herbariumlocation not on record
1
San Jose, US
1
Macomb, US
1
US
1
MAlocation not on record
1
64 institutions · 721 of 736 vouchered records shown · 15 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA8 detections
Where the DNA of Polemonium micranthum was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found8
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 8 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
Open disturbed sandy gravel along trailside.grassy slope, also roadsides, etc.occasional in disturbed soil near buildings …north slope at edge of Douglas fir woods
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median3.40 °C 3.40–3.40
Seasonal swing summer↔winter21.3 °C
Max temp (day)8.40 °C
Min temp (night)-2.80 °C
Precipitation47.4 mm/mo
Air humidity51.8 %
Moisture balance-30.5 mm/mo
Vapour deficit376 Pa
Wind speed2.20 m/s
Cloud cover43.7 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation2 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 209 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI8 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics11 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗