Participant Info

Species

Penstemon rydbergii [Penstemon erosus] [Penstemon lacerellus]

Family

Plantaginaceae

CommonName

Rydberg’s penstemon

Presence

Yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1900

LatestDate

2021

Ecosystem

montane, subalpine, ruderal

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos

Counties

Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, Archuleta

Passes

Indian Creek, Spring Creek, Venable

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Mary E. McDonald: Conejos Co, in gravel by dam for Trujillo Reservoir, near Cumbres Pass, June 7 2021; Rich Haswell: Mineral Co, near Big Meadows Reservoir 7 Sept 2020

Comments

In the Watershed, Penstemon rydbergii has been recorded fairly often from moist montane meadows and subalpine slopes, occasionally beside roads. The one occurrence on the east side of the Valley was Indian Creek Pass (Vreeland coll, 1900). The USA distribution is broad, compared to most other penstemons, covering all states west of the Great Plains. It follows the Rio Grande drainage only as far as Sandoval Co, New Mexico. Note that care has to be taken to distinguish P. rydbergii from P. procerus.

Annotation