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Penstemon procerus

Species of flowering plant

Penstemon procerus is a species of penstemon known by the common name littleflower penstemon. It is native to western North America from Alaska to California to Colorado, as far east in Canada as Manitoba, where it grows in mountain habitat such as meadows, often in alpine climates. This herbaceous perennial forms mats of herbage with some erect stems reaching about 40 centimeters in maximum height. There are several varieties which vary in morphology, some more decumbent than others, some of which are known commonly as pincushion penstemons for their matted forms. In general, the leaves are lance-shaped to oval, plentiful around the base of the plant with smaller ones arranged in opposite pairs along the stem. The inflorescence is made up of one or more clusters of tubular flowers with lipped, lobed mouths. Each flower is no more than one centimeter in length and is purple to blue in color, often with a white throat. The outside of the flower is generally hairless, while the inside may be lined with white or yellowish hairs.

Description

Littleflower penstemons have a wide range of heights when mature, typically 3 to(-), but occasionally as tall as 70 cm. Its stems can be hairless or be more or less covered in backwards pointing stiff hairs, but are never glaucous. The flowering stems can either grow straight upwards or lean outwards from the base of the plant before growing upwards, occasionally they may grow along the ground. The non-flowering stems are often numerous enough for form a mat at the base of the plant.

Plants can have both basal leaves, springing directly from the base of the plant, and leaves attached to the stems, but in some plants the basal leaves are not well developed. They might have a somewhat leathery texture and can have rough backwards pointing hairs, be simply hairy, or hairless. Basal leaves and the ones lowest on the stems range fro 0.9 to 9 cm long, only occasionally reaching 11.5 cm.

Taxonomy

Penstemon procerus was given its scientific name in 1829 by Robert Graham, crediting the work of David Douglas. It is part of the genus Penstemon which is classified in the family Plantaginaceae. It has six accepted varieties.

Penstemon procerus var. aberrans Native to Utah.
Penstemon procerus var. brachyanthus Native to Oregon and northwestern California.
Penstemon procerus var. formosus Native to Oregon, California, and western Nevada.
Penstemon procerus var. modestus Native to Nevada.
Penstemon procerus var. procerus Widespread from Alaska to Colorado.
Penstemon procerus var. tolmiei Native to eastern central British Columbia and eastern Washington.

Penstemon procerushas synonyms of the species or one of its subspecies.

Name	Year	Rank	Synonym of:	Notes
Lepteiris parviflora Raf.	1837	species	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon brachyanthus Pennell	1941	species	var. brachyanthus	≡ hom.
Penstemon cacuminis Pennell	1941	species	var. formosus	≡ hom.
Penstemon confertus var. aberrans M.E.Jones	1895	variety	var. aberrans	≡ hom.
Penstemon confertus var. modestus (Greene) Jeps.	1925	variety	var. modestus	≡ hom.
Penstemon confertus var. procerus (Douglas ex Graham) Coville	1893	variety	P. procerus	≡ hom.
Penstemon formosus A.Nelson	1904	species	var. formosus	≡ hom., nom. illeg.
Penstemon micranthus Nutt.	1834	species	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon modestus Greene	1906	species	var. modestus	≡ hom.
Penstemon pononii T.Moore & Mast.	1872	species	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus subsp. aberrans (M.E.Jones) D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	var. aberrans	≡ hom.
Penstemon procerus f. albescens B.Boivin	1966	form	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus subsp. brachyanthus (Pennell) D.D.Keck	1957	subspecies	var. brachyanthus	≡ hom.
Penstemon procerus var. fimbriatus Regel	1872	variety	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus subsp. formosus (D.D.Keck) D.D.Keck	1957	subspecies	var. formosus	≡ hom.
Penstemon procerus f. jenkinsii B.Boivin	1960	form	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus var. micrantus (Nutt.) M.E.Jones	1910	variety	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus subsp. modestus (Greene) D.D.Keck	1957	subspecies	var. modestus	≡ hom.
Penstemon procerus subsp. pulvereus Pennell	1920	subspecies	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon procerus subsp. tolmiei (Hook.) D.D.Keck	1957	subspecies	var. tolmiei	≡ hom.
Penstemon procerus subsp. typicus D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	P. procerus	≡ hom., not validly publ.
Penstemon pulchellus Greene	1898	species	var. formosus	≡ hom., nom. illeg.
Penstemon spicatus T.Moore & Mast.	1872	species	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon tinctus Pennell	1941	species	var. procerus	= het.
Penstemon tolmiei Hook.	1838	species	var. tolmiei	≡ hom.
Penstemon tolmiei subsp. brachyanthus (Pennell) D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	var. brachyanthus	≡ hom.
Penstemon tolmiei subsp. formosus D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	var. formosus	≡ hom.
Penstemon tolmiei subsp. modestus (Greene) D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	var. modestus	≡ hom.
Penstemon tolmiei subsp. typicus D.D.Keck	1945	subspecies	var. tolmiei	≡ hom., not validly publ.

Names

The specific epithet, procerus, is Botanical Latin meaning "tall", however the alpine forms of the species are quite short. It is frequently called by the common names littleflower penstemon or little flower penstemon. It is similarly known as the small-flowered penstemon, small-flowered beardtongue, and little blue penstemon. It is also known as tall penstemon, pincushion penstemon, and slender blue penstemon.

Cultivation

In cultivation in the UK the cultivar 'Roy Davidson' has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It copes with a range of situations, but requires a well-drained medium in full or partial sun.

References

Citations

Sources

;Books

;Web sources

References

"''Penstemon procerus'' 'Roy Davidson'". Royal Horticultural Society.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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