Wildflowers of the Wasatch Mountains and Bear River Range: Key to Penstemon

Key to Penstemons

Key to Penstemon of the Wasatch Mountains and Bear River Range
Distributions are for those counties included in this geographic area. Plants may be more widely distributed and, in most cases, are.

1	Flowers red, more or less tubular UT (Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch)	Eaton’s Penstemon Penstemon eatonii
1	Flowers not red, somewhat tubular or more commonly with evident corolla lobes	2

2 (1)	Flowers pink to wine colored, not blue or purple	3
2	Flowers blue or purple	7

3 (2)	Plants general > 1m in height UT (Cache, Davis, Utah)	Palmer’s Penstemon Penstemon palmeri
3	Plants shorter	4
4 (3)	Plants low-growing, tufted with multiple stems; leaves entirely borne on the stems, typically sessile or subpetiolate near the base; flowers borne on leafy stems ID (Franklin), UT (Salt Lake, Utah)	Cordroot Beardtongue Penstemon montanus
4	Plants not tufted; leaves generally basal as well as on the stem, stem leaves generally reduced upward	5

5 (4)	Corolla lobes not widely expanding, pale pinkish in plants occurring in the canyons along the Wasatch Front, more often wine-colored in the Bear River Range. ID (Bear Lake, Franklin), UT (Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch)	Whipple’s Penstemon Penstemon whippleanus
5	Corolla lobes expanding widely; plants endemic to northern Utah	6

6 (5)	Calyx small and not recurved; plants limited to Utah and Wasatch Counties UT (Salt Lake, Utah)	Littlecup Beardtongue Penstemon sepalulus
6	Calyx obvious and recurved; plants occurring in Salt Lake, Davis, Weber, Utah and Wasatch Counties. UT (Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, Weber)	Broadleaf Penstemon Penstemon platyphyllus

7 (2)	Plants with persistent, semi mat-forming basal leaves	8
7	Plants not as above	10

8 (7)	Plants with densely-flowered inflorescence; flowers 1.2 cm or smaller; ID (Bear Lake), UT (Cache, Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Wasatch)	Littleflower penstemon Penstemon procerus
8	Plants not as densely flowered; flowers larger than 1.2 (1.4-2.6) cm	9


9 (8)	Plants glandular-hairy within the inflorescence; flowers blue-purple with widely spreading lobes; leaves basal and cauline, stem leaves smaller than basal leaves ID (Bear Lake, Franklin), UT (Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch, Weber)	Low penstemon Penstemon humilis
9	Plants not glandular-hairy within the inflorescence; flowers deep blue with lobes less broadly spreading; leaves primarily cauline, upper leaves not becoming significantly smaller on upper portions of the stem ID (Bear Lake, Franklin), UT (Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch, Weber)	Leonard’s Penstemon Penstemon leonardii

10 (7)	Inflorescence strongly secund (flowers borne on one side of the stem); cymes 1-4 flowered; flowers more typically purple-blue, but ranging from blue to dark, upper lobes projecting forward; plants native to Utah, but not the Wasatch Mountains or Bear River Range – introduced through revegetation efforts and found along highways and in several northern Utah ski areas. UT (Cache, Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch)	Rocky Mountain Penstemon Penstemon strictus
10	Inflorescence secund to cylindrical; cymes 1-7 flowered; flowers blue, upper lobes spreading to somewhat reflexed, flower tubes not appearing inflated; plants endemic to northern Utah and adjacent areas in Idaho and Wyoming.	11

11 (10)	Leaves folded; plants 1-2.5 dm tall; inflorescence of 1-5 verticillasters; plants restricted to Cache County, Utah and Franklin County, Idaho Folded leaves ID (Bear Lake) UT (Cache)	Mount Naomi Penstemon Penstemon compactus
11	Leaves more or less flat to slightly folded; inflorescence of 2-9 verticillasters; plants throughout northern Utah and southern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming Leaves more or less flattened ID (Bear Lake), UT (Cache, Davis, Morgan, Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch, Weber)	Wasatch Beardtongue Penstemon cyananthus