Single Record

Species: Penstemon ramaleyi [Penstemon crandallii var. ramaleyi] [Penstemon crandallii subsp. glabrescens]

PhotoRecords: YES: Richard Haswell: Saguache Co, Old Woman's Creek road, 11 June 2017

Comments: Following Robert Nold, the American Penstemon Society, and Colorado Penstemon expert William Jennings, this flora raises Ramaley's penstemon to species level. So far other authorities have left as a variety or subspecies of Penstemon crandallii. But Nold calls it, along with P. glabrescens, "unquestionably distinct units, which show little or no intergrading" (Penstemons, 1999, p. 60). William Jennings comments: “in my opinion, P. crandallii, P. glabrescens, and P. ramaleyi are separable species” (Colorado Native Plants listserve, 3/3/2020). P. ramaleyi is found on dry, rocky slopes of the west Watershed ranges, sometimes in road cuts, with the majority of collections from W of Saguache. It differs from P. glabrescens in having longer leaves, regularly retorse and short stem hairs, and a stiffly erect stance. It is difficult, however, to map the distribution of this variety or subspecies of P. crandallii in the Watershed, since many herbarium determinations determined as just "Penstemon crandallii." In the most inclusive sense, P. crandallii is mainly distributed in Colorado and neighboring parts of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, where it follows the Rio Grande drainage only as far as Santa Fe Co.