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Penstemon whippleanus
Also called Dusky Beardtongue, Dusky Penstemon, Whipple's Beardtongue
Penstemon whippleanus, commonly known as dusky penstemon or Whipple's penstemon, is a summer blooming perennial flower in the large Penstemon genus. It is a widespread plant within the hemiboreal forests of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It is noted for the large deep purple-red flowers and a preference for high mountain elevations.
Dusky penstemons are planted in gardens as an ornamental plant for their large and striking flowers that appear in summer at high elevations or as early as April in low elevations. It is very winter hardy, recorded as surviving in USDA zones 4-8 and a UK hardiness of H4. In garden conditions they grow in neutral to acid soils and spread rapidly; they are also tolerant of propagation by division.
In the garden they are, like most members of the genus, drought tolerant but intolerant of poorly draining soils or waterlogged conditions. They are more tolerant of moisture than most of the genus. They are not demanding of rich soils or fertilization, but do produce more flowers in richer soils. Because of its native habitat P. whippleanus is particularly suited to higher elevation gardens.
Penstemon whippleanus is widely distributed in the central Rocky Mountains of North America. It is recorded by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS) as growing in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. However, there are no county level distributions for Montana recorded in the PLANTS database.
Firleaf beardtongue · Stemless beardtongue · Sharpleaf penstemon · Los Alamos beardtongue · Alberta beardtongue · White penstemon · White River Beardtongue · Whitemargin beardtongue · Gilia beardtongue · Penstemon angelicus · Siskiyou beardtongue · Broadbeard beardtongue
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Penstemon whippleanus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
