''Penstemon debilis'', the Parachute penstemon or Parachute beardtongue, is one of the rarest plants in North America, found only 5 places in the world, all of them located on the

Roan Plateau The Roan Plateau is a plateau in western Colorado, USA, in Garfield County. It contains a variety of natural resources and scenic terrain: high ridges, deep valleys, desert lands, waterfalls, cutthroat trout, mountain lions, bears, rare plants, ...

in Garfield County, of Western

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. The Denver Botanic Gardens has the Parachute penstemon on display with other native plants of the Roan Plateau. The name Parachute comes from the small town in Colorado,

Parachute, Colorado The Town of Parachute is a home rule municipality in Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The population was 1,085 at the 2010 census. The town is the birthplace of Willard Libby, recipient of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Etymolog ...

, close to where the plant can be found. The plant is small and low to the ground. It has small green leaves and pale light-lavender flowers. It grows in steep slopes on

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

, where little vegetation grows. The area is very arid and has sparse vegetation, containing sages, grasses and bushes. The Parachute penstemon has been identified to qualify for protection under the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

by the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with othe ...

, but failed to be protected, due to large amounts of

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

in the area. In 2004, the Center for Native Ecosystems, along with the Colorado Native Plant Society and two independent botanists formally requested protection. On July 27, 2011, the plant was federally listed as a threatened species of the United States, a ruling which took effect on August 26, 2011.USFWS
Determination of Endangered Status for Ipomopsis polyantha (Pagosa Skyrocket) and Threatened Status for Penstemon debilis (Parachute Beardtongue) and Phacelia submutica (DeBeque Phacelia); Final Rule.
''Federal Register'' July 27, 2011. File:Penstemon debilis fruits (43679110081).jpg, Penstemon debilis with fruits File:Parachute beardtongue flower penstemon debilis.jpg, Flowering specimen

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7164846 Flora of Colorado debilis