''Penstemon gibbensii'' is a species of flowering plant in the

plantain family Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

known by the common name Gibbens' beardtongue. It is native to the western United States, where it occurs in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

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 ...

, and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

.''Penstemon gibbensii''.
The Nature Conservancy. This species grows up to 20 centimeters tall. It has linear or lance-shaped leaves oppositely arranged on the stems, the longest reaching 9 centimeters in length. The tubular blue flowers are up to 2 centimeters long.Dorn, R. D. (1982)
A new species of ''Penstemon'' (Scrophulariaceae) from Wyoming.
''Brittonia'' 34(3) 334-5. Blooming occurs in June through September, typically in response to adequate moisture.''Penstemon gibbensii''.
Center for Plant Conservation. There are a total of nine known occurrences in three US states. The species is limited to a specific type of soil, shale and sandy clay originating from the Browns Park Formation, a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

. The soil is yellowish and rich in selenium. The habitat is pinyon-juniper woodland, sagebrush, and greasewood-saltbush. Associated species include ''

Chrysothamnus ''Chrysothamnus'', known as rabbitbrush, rabbitbush, and chamisa, are a genus of shrubs in the family Asteraceae. The native distribution is in the arid western United States, Canada, and northern Mexico. It is known for its bright white or yell ...

'' sp., ''Oxytropis nana'' var. ''obnapaformis'', '' Eriogonum'' sp., ''

Wyethia scabra ''Scabrethia '' is a monotypic genus of North American flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. There is only one recognized species, ''Scabrethia scabra'', the badlands mule-ears, which is native to the western United States (Montana, Wyoming, ...

'', '' Commandra umbellata'', and ''

Leptodactylon ''Linanthus'' is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the phlox family Polemoniaceae. The species are found in western North America and in Chile, with the greatest diversity in California. The stems are erect, with multiple branches arisin ...

'' sp. The main threat to the species is grazing by livestock and other animals. Other threats include oil and gas exploration, off-road vehicle activity, and

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of plants. The plants may die in

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

conditions, as well.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7164851 gibbensii Flora of Colorado Flora of Utah Flora of Wyoming Plants described in 1982