Penstemon whippleanus

Plant Information

Species:

whippleanus

Species Authority:

A. Gray

Subgenus:

Penstemon

Section:

Penstemon

Subsection:

Humiles

Habit:

herbaceous perennial

Habit Woodiness:

herbaceous

Lifespan:

long-lived

Plant Height - Min:

2.00dm

Plant Height - Max:

6.00dm

Habitat Description:

From subalpine woodlands and open slopes to timberline and sometimes on alpine tundra.

Distribution Range:

Southwest Montana, southeast Idaho (also in the Black Pine Mountains, Cassia County), and west and south Wyoming, south through Utah (absent in the Bonneville Basin Section except in the Deep Creek Range) and Colorado to north Arizona and New Mexico.

Elevation - Min:

2500.00m

Elevation - Max:

3600.00m

Other Notes:

Two very distinct color forms of P. whippleanus occur across most of its range. One is a dull white or pinkish form, and the other a dark purple, nearly black form. In the Great Basin localities only the light colored form exists, but in many populations in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains, Utah Plateaus, and Laccolithic mountains of southeastern Utah both forms may be found between which intermediates are not known to occur, suggesting one or few linked genes are responsible.

First Bloom:

Mid-June

Last Bloom:

August

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.