Penstemon eatonii var. eatonii

Plant Information

Species:

eatonii

Species Authority:

A. Gray

Variety:

eatonii

Subgenus:

Habroanthus

Section:

Elmigera

Habit:

herbaceous perennial

Habit Woodiness:

herb

Lifespan:

short-lived

Plant Height - Min:

4.00dm

Plant Height - Max:

10.00dm

Habitat Description:

Dry slopes and flats in sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, mountain mahogany, and ponderosa pine communities.

Distribution Range:

Nye and White Pine counties, Nevada, and Juab, Utah, and Carbon counties, Utah, south to the Mojave Desert mountains of south Inyo County and east San Bernardino County, California and south Nevada, and the plateaus and mesa of north Arizona and southwest Colorado. Occasionally in canyons, Upper Sonoran Zone. Type locality: Provo Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Utah.

Soil Type:

Gravelly or rocky.

Elevation - Min:

1500.00m

Elevation - Max:

2800.00m

Common Name:

Firecracker Penstemon

Other Notes:

Three varieties of Penstemon eatonii have been described (eatonii, exsertus, undosus). This is a popular plant for highway plantings in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming, which are outside the native range. Varieties exsertus and undosus have retrorsely hairy stems. The latter two can be distinguished based on the inserted vs. exserted stamens for var. undosus vs. exsertus, respectively.

First Bloom:

March

Last Bloom:

July

Chromosome Number:

2n = 16

References:

Holmgren NH. 1984. Penstemon and Keckiella. In Intermountain Flora, vol. 4. Ed. Arthur Cronquist et al. Bronx: The New York Botanical Garden.