Penstemons, old, 2013
February 19, 2017
After a long lapse, it’s time for another post here. I’m pretty far behind now, with plenty of accumulated photos that could be posted someday. Will I ever catch up?
Before moving on to another topic, I’ll pick up right where I left off–still among the penstemons. There were some more penstemon observations I gathered during 2013. Here are some shots from that season of “old” species–species I had photographed in previous seasons and had posted here before.
The 5 “old” Penstemon taxa covered in this post are:
eatonii
confusus
dolius
leonardii var. patricus
platyphyllus
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early May 2013, Penstemon eatonii, recently pressed down by snow, Confusion Range, Millard Co, UT
I walked up a side canyon and saw some P. eatonii like this. They had begun to grow for the season and then been snowed upon and pressed down–resulting in this ragged appearance. P. eatonii extended up to higher elevation in this drainage than the three other Penstemon species I noticed sharing it–pachyphyllus, caespitosus and leonardii var. patricus.
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late May 2013, Penstemon eatonii, Confusion Range, Millard Co, UT
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early May 2013, Penstemon confusus, House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
Spring 2013 received a little more rain than usual in this area, and I found a clump of these flowering happily where I had not noticed this species in previous springs.
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early May 2013, Penstemon dolius, House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
Amid the P. confusus there were also some P. dolius, flowering at the same time.
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early May 2013, Penstemon dolius (blue) and Penstemon confusus (pink), House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
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mid May 2013, Penstemon dolius (a), House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
On a different excursion a couple weeks later in May, I found another patch of P. dolius nearby that did not have P. confusus with it.
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mid May 2013, Penstemon dolius (b), House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
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mid May 2013, Penstemon dolius (c), House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
Like many Penstemons, within one flowering patch some plants tend lighter or darker.
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mid May 2013, Penstemon dolius (d), House Range foothills, Millard Co, UT
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late May 2013, Penstemon leonardii var. patricus (a), Confusion Range, Millard Co, UT
I had walked up this canyon several times but never noticed this low-elevation patricus plant. I had missed it because at those other times its flowers had been less prominent.
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late May 2013, Penstemon leonardii var. patricus (b), Confusion Range, Millard Co, UT
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late July 2013, Penstemon platyphyllus (a), Wasatch Range, Salt Lake Co, UT
Late July is not the usual flowering time for this species. But a little July rain had nudged this particular plant into a couple of later-season flowers. This plant was at the high end of this species’ elevation window in this canyon. On this visit I noticed no recent flowers on this canyon’s lower-elevation plants that grew in slightly drier conditions.
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late July 2013, Penstemon platyphyllus (b), Wasatch Range, Salt Lake Co, UT
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late July 2013, habitat of Penstemon platyphyllus, Wasatch Range, Salt Lake Co, UT
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