See also Jacob's-ladder, a broader term applied to the genus Polemonium with distinct sentiments and symbolism.
☙ Blue Jacob's-ladder
Polemonium caeruleum L. (1753). WFO BD HP:FE RT:LOF
Period English: blue-flowered Greek valerian (blue flowered Greek valerian); Greek valerian.
Period French: échelle de Jacob f. ('Jacob's-ladder'); BD polémoine f.; CLT LA-M polémoine bleu f. ('blue polemonium'). BD
Sentiments:
🏶︎ Rupture ▲︎◆︎◼︎ (1819-1884). CLT LA-M HP:FE TTA FS TM FSO LH S&K HGA:OT GAL RT:LOF JS KG
Region:
Native: Across temperate Europe, from Great Britain and France in the West; to Siberia in the East; Altai, Tuva, Rostov Oblast, Romania, Italy, and the Spanish border in the South; with constrained separate populations in Nepal, Pakistan and West Himalaya; China South-Central; and Japan.WFO
Introduced: Belgium; Netherlands; Denmark; Iceland; Québec; Minnesota; Wisconsin; Maine; Michigan; New Hampshire; New Jersey; Ohio; Pennsylvania; Vermont.WFO
Seasonality: Deciduous perennial flowering early summer.
Period Colours: TBC.
Heraldry: TBC.
Religious: TBC.
Cited Verse:
❧ 'Chapter 28.—The Polemonia, Philatæria, or Chiliodynamus: Six Remedies', Pliny the Elder (this ed translated by ◆︎ John Bostock Jr. & ◆︎ Henry Thomas Riley), The Natural History, London: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. (original c.80 CE?, this ed. 1855) Book 25, Ch. 28 (Plin. Nat. 25.28) Read Here; RT:LOF
🜱 On sentiments: The sentiment of rupture is - exceedingly rarely - universal throughout my sources, however few explain why this beautiful plant is made emblem of such a shocking concept. Henry Phillips, my first English source in 1825, is wonderfully vague, and short of the preceding French sources - which will come in time - it is only with Robert Tyas, nearly 50 years later, that I can shed any light on it.
Tyas, however, helpfully mentions the section in Pliny's Natural History cited above. Below, I give the chapter in full from Bostock & Riley's 1855 translation, as sourced from the linked Perseus Catalogue (and as someone new to the Classics, I must extend my appreciation to this incredible resource). In this passage (Plin. Nat. 25.28), Pliny describes that the plant has two names: polemonia and philetæria, each drawn from a competing king, Polemon and Philetærus respectively. This argument, a split between fellow people, may be the source of the meaning of rupture, but I cannot say conclusively.
The polemonia¹ is known as the "philetæria" by some, in consequence of the contest which has arisen between certain kings for the honour of its discovery. The people of Cappadocia also give it the name of "chiliodynamus."² The root of it is substantial, and it has slender branches, with umbels hanging from the extremities, and a black seed. In other respects, it bears a resemblance to rue, and is found growing in mountainous localities.
¹ Its names were derived from Polemon, a king of Pontus, and Philetærus, a king of Cappadocia. It is generally identified with the Polemonium cæruleum of Linnæus, Greek valerian, or Jacob's ladder. M. Fraas suggests that it may be the Hypericum Olympicum of Linnæus, with which he also identities the Panaces chironion.
² "With a thousand virtues."
Cette fleur figure non seulement la finale des mots terminés en el, comme dans ciel, mais encore celle des mots dans lesquels l’usage veut un l suivi de l'e muet, comme fidèle, rebèle, quand ces mots sont au masculin, car au féminin on se sert de l'échelle de Jacob, qui exprime positivement le genre.