Single Record

PhotoRecords: YES Rich Haswell: Hinsdale Co, North Clear Creak Falls 22 June 2017

Comments: n the Watershed, Penstemon teucrioides has been vouchered only on the west side, for instance, around Mogote in Conejos Co (1985-1987), 25 miles E. of Spring Creek in Hinsdale Co (1989), around Creede in Mineral Co (1970), and at Cochetopa pass in Saguache Co (1991). Any or all of these vouchers may be of Penstemon crandallii, var. ramaleyi. FNA restricts P. teucriodes to the Gunnison River drainage, and indisputable specimens have been found in the Cochetopa Dome area, west of the Watershed, where the species thrives in the dry volcanic substrate. Still, one occurrence has recently been recorded from the west edge of the Watershed, at North Clear Creek Falls in Hinsdale Co. FNA and BONAP show this scarce penstemon as endemic to Colorado. The record from Rio Arriba Co in New Mexico, 30 miles south of Chama, collected by R. D. Harrington in 1961, is declared misidentified by FNA (Allred et al. 2020 also do not accept this record). Note that it takes careful and close observation to distinguish P. teucrioides from P. crandallii and P. caespitosus. But P. teucrioides has involute linear leaves densely hirsute on both sides, and stands half-erect with with leaves crowded throughout the length of the stem.