WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

Clusters of blue to purple, tubular flowers grow in dense whorls separated by long internodes on 8–20-inch tall, hairy stems. This penstemon favors moist habitats. Look for hairless leaves, flowers with white to golden hairs across the base of the lower lobes, and a staminode (beardtongue) covered with golden hairs.

FLOWERS: July–August. Blooms on short stems in tight, dense clusters around stem. The flower has a gradually expanding tube, 3/8–5/8-inch long (10–15 mm); tube is purple and the face has 5 blue, rounded lobes and white throat, yellow to white hairs at the opening of the throat, and a sterile stamen (staminode) within the throat densely covered with golden hairs. Outside surface of flower may have minute hairs but not glandular hairs.

LEAVES: Basal rosette leaves smooth with short stems, oblong to spoon-shaped, 1 1/8–4 3/4-inches long (3–12 cm), to 3/4-inch wide (2–20 mm), margins entire. Stem leaves opposite, stemless (sessile), shorter, narrower.

HABITAT: Moist soils of mountain meadows, stream sides, seeps; foothill scrub, ponderosa, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 8,000–11,500 feet.

RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The dense whorls of blue flowers and moist, mountainous habitat distinguish this species in NM.

NM COUNTIES: Mountains of northern half of NM in high-elevation, moist habitats: Cibola, Colfax, McKinley, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Sandoval, Taos, Union.