Polemonium reptans is a perennial herbaceous plant native to eastern North America. Common names include spreading Jacob's ladder, creeping Jacob's ladder, false Jacob's ladder, abscess root, American Greek valerian, blue bells, stairway to heaven, and sweatroot.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · TRY: Subshrub, Forb/herb
Woodinessnon-woody
Physiology & chemistry1
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
05DNA & barcoding9 specimens
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 reptans has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens9
Marker genes3
eDNA detections6
Countries2
Marker genes sequenced
★ 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.
★rbcL★rbcLa★ITS2
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualPolemonium reptans 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.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size5 916 900 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
THIS GENOME Polemonium reptans5.92 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
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 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 type11 239 records
Wild obs. + sensor9 741
Museum / vouchered1 491
Cultivated / captive7
Origin
Native8
Introduced4
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO20 512 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 accuracy85% within 1 km
≤100 m 5 759≤1 km 1 273≤10 km 427>10 km 769
8 228 georeferenced · 1 513 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor9 741
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 accuracy45% within 1 km
≤100 m 77≤1 km 437≤10 km 580>10 km 42
1 136 georeferenced · 355 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 491
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy43% within 1 km
≤1 km 3≤10 km 4
7 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living7
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 institutions68 of 94 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Chongqing Museumlocation not on record
258
Madison, US
208
Philadelphia, US
194
Bloomington, US
124
St. Paul, US
83
Saint Louis, US
47
Wuzhou, CN
38
College Park, US
30
Bronx, US
26
Dekalb, US
25
Longwood Universitylocation not on record
20
Bangkok, TH
20
Tuscaloosa, US
18
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
16
Whitewater, US
15
Green Bay, US
15
Williamsburg, US
15
Museum of the Rockieslocation not on record
14
Waverly, US
14
Davenport, US
14
Jackson, US
13
University of Lynchburglocation not on record
13
Tampa, US
13
Chicago, US
12
DOI/NPS, Mississippi National River & Recreation Arealocation not on record
11
Millersville, US
11
Burlington, US
10
University of New Hampshirelocation not on record
10
Flagstaff, US
10
BAYLUlocation not on record
9
DOI/NPS, Selma to Montgomery National Historic Traillocation not on record
8
Fayetteville, US
8
US
7
ASUlocation not on record
7
Emporia, US
6
Denver, US
5
Knoxville, US
5
Fairfax, US
5
Columbia, US
5
Morgantown, US
5
Kirksville, US
4
Chapel Hill, US
4
Chicago, US
4
Maryland Department of Natural Resourceslocation not on record
4
AUAlocation not on record
4
Phoenix, US
3
Northridge, US
3
GAlocation not on record
3
Russellville, US
3
China Agricultural Universitylocation not on record
3
University of Guelph, OAC Herbariumlocation not on record
3
Springfield, US
3
Richmond, US
3
Ann Arbor, US
3
Pittsburg, US
2
Jefferson City, US
2
GB
2
Staten Island, US
2
Dover, US
2
Jena Microbial Resource Collectionlocation not on record
2
DULlocation not on record
2
Decorah, US
2
Norfolk, US
2
San Angelo, US
2
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
2
University of Tennessee at Chattanoogalocation not on record
2
Little Rock, US
1
Macomb, US
1
San Diego, US
1
Pullman, US
1
Long Beach, US
1
Universität Göttingenlocation not on record
1
Saint John, CA
1
US
1
Fullerton, US
1
Philadelphia, US
1
Lincoln, US
1
Turlock, US
1
Chadron, US
1
Austin, US
1
Durham, US
1
South Kensington, GB
1
Fort Worth, US
1
Cincinnati, US
1
Fargo, US
1
Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Gardenlocation not on record
1
Allentown, US
1
USP-IBlocation not on record
1
James F. Matthews Center for Biodiversity Studieslocation not on record
1
Science Museum of Minnesotalocation not on record
1
Edmonton, CA
1
Mississippi State, US
1
LINUlocation not on record
1
PHlocation not on record
1
94 institutions · 1 466 of 1 491 vouchered records shown · 23 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA6 detections
Where the DNA of Polemonium reptans 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 found6
Studies independent surveys1
Countries2
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 6 detections have coordinates
Open the map2 countries0
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 median12.5 °C 9.10–13.0
Seasonal swing summer↔winter26.4 °C
Max temp (day)18.4 °C 14.8–18.7
Min temp (night)8.00 °C 4.30–8.20
Precipitation79.6 mm/mo 75.0–84.2
Air humidity55.4 % 55.2–57.3
Moisture balance-38.4 mm/mo -42.9–-26.3
Vapour deficit669 Pa 536–733
Wind speed4.70 m/s 4.30–5.80
Cloud cover44.7 % 36.7–46.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 5 detection points · 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 Foundation6 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility11 239 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI6 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics9 specimens↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗