Single Record

PhotoRecords: Yes: pandarollie: Conejos Co, 3.2 km northwest of Ponderosa cpgd, June 2021

Comments: The Watershed's form of toadflax penstemon is Penstemon linarioides var. coloradoensis. Found on open rocky hillsides, sometimes in volcanic substrate, it is not often collected in the Watershed. In 2012 Weber and Wittmann, Colorado Flora Eastern Slope, 4th ed., say, "Not yet found but to be expected in pinyon-juniper in the San Luis Valley." But there are reliable records from Rajadero Canyon (2015) and Rito Hondo Creek (1986) in Conejos Co; SW of Creede (nd) in Mineral Co; near Pinos Creek (1984) and Middle San Francisco Creek trailhead (2021) in Rio Grande Co. All records are are from the western side of the valley—none from the east side. More recently, six photorecords in iNaturalist, from the west side purportedly are P. linarioides, but not enough detail is shown to make identification sure (e.g., of the staminode or the calyx margin). One observation from a hillside above Fox Creede (2021), however, looks correct (iNaturalist # 83095152). In New Mexico, there are collections from the New Mexican Rio Grande drainage, where Allred et al. 2020 call it "rather common." This penstemon is primarily distributed in the Southwest USA, the Watershed marking its northwest corner.