Flora of North America species comparison

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Penstemon davidsonii var. menziesii

Penstemon sect. Erianthera
Photo is of parent taxon

Davidson's beardtongue, Davidson's penstemon, Menzies' penstemon
Habit Herbs, shrubs, or subshrubs.
Stems

glabrous or retrorsely hairy, sometimes glandular-pubescent distally, glaucous or not.
Leaves

blades spatulate to elliptic, margins ± serrulate, apex rounded to obtuse or acute.

cauline, opposite, rarely subopposite (P. lyallii), leathery, sometimes not (P. lyallii, P. personatus), glabrous or hairy, glaucous or not;

cauline petiolate, short-petiolate, or sessile, blade round, orbiculate, ovate, obovate, lanceolate, oblanceolate, spatulate, elliptic, or oblong, rarely linear, margins entire or toothed.
Thyrses

continuous or interrupted, ± secund, rarely cylindric or conic, axis hairy, rarely glabrous, cymes 2 per node;

peduncles and pedicels spreading or ascending to erect.
Flowers

corolla violet, 20–35 mm, moderately white-villous internally abaxially.

calyx lobes: margins entire or erose, ± scarious or herbaceous, glandular-pubescent, rarely glabrous or inconspicuously glandular;

corolla lilac, lavender, blue, violet, purple, pink, red, scarlet, or white, bilaterally symmetric, strongly bilabiate, personate or not, funnelform, rarely tubular-funnelform, glabrous externally, rarely glandular-pubescent, hairy internally abaxially, rarely glabrous, throat gradually inflated, not constricted at orifice, 2-ridged abaxially;

stamens included or longer pair exserted, filaments glabrous, pollen sacs opposite;

staminode 0.1–0.4 mm diam., tip straight to recurved, glabrous or distal 10–50% hairy, hairs to 1.5 mm;

style glabrous.
Capsules

glabrous.
Seeds

brown, 0.8–4 mm.
2n

= 16.

Penstemon davidsonii var. menziesii

Penstemon sect. Erianthera
Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Rock outcrops, ledges, talus slopes.
Elevation 30–2000 m. (100–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA; BC
[BONAP county map]
w North America
Discussion

The ranges of var. davidsonii and var. menziesii overlap throughout much of British Columbia and Washington.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 10 (10 in the flora).

Morphologic and molecular data support inclusion of Penstemon personatus in sect. Erianthera (A. D. Wolfe et al. 2006). D. D. Keck (1936b) placed P. personatus in sect. Cryptostemon D. D. Keck; that name is invalid, because it lacked a diagnosis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Pollen sac sides glabrous.
P. personatus
1. Pollen sac sides lanate.
→ 2
2. Thyrse axes glabrous.
P. barrettiae
2. Thyrse axes glandular-pubescent at least distally, sometimes also retrorsely hairy.
→ 3
3. Cymes 2–7-flowered; staminodes 10–13 mm; stems (18–)30–80 cm; leaves 8–13 pairs, blades lanceolate, rarely linear, 23–130 × 3–20 mm.
P. lyallii
3. Cymes 1-flowered; staminodes 7–16 mm; stems 3–40 cm; leaves 2–10 pairs, blades orbiculate, obovate, spatulate, oblanceolate, ovate, elliptic, broadly lanceolate, or round, 4–55(–60) × 3–17(–28) mm.
→ 4
4. Leaves: distals seldom distinctly smaller than proximals, all deciduous, sometimes persistent.
→ 5
5. Leaves glabrous, not glaucous; leaf blades obovate to ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, margins ± crenulate-serrulate; thyrses cylindric to ± secund.
P. ellipticus
5. Leaves glabrous or puberulent, or puberulent and glandular-pubescent, glaucous or not; leaf blades obovate to oblanceolate, ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic, margins entire, subentire, serrate, or dentate; thyrses secund.
P. montanus
4. Leaves: distals usually distinctly smaller than proximals, all persistent.
→ 6
6. Leaf blades lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic, not glaucous.
P. fruticosus
6. Leaf blades round, elliptic, obovate, ovate, orbiculate, or spatulate, glaucous or not.
→ 7
7. Corollas blue, lavender, violet, or purple; leaves ± or not glaucous; stamens included.
→ 8
8. Thyrses 5–14 cm, ± interrupted; proximal bract margins serrate, sometimes entire; stems 10–27 cm.
P. cardwellii
8. Thyrses 1–6 cm, continuous; proximal bract margins entire; stems 4–10(–17) cm.
P. davidsonii
7. Corollas pink, red, rose red, scarlet, pinkish lavender, lavender, or purple; leaves usually glaucous; stamens: longer pair exserted (included in P. newberryi var. berryi).
→ 9
9. Verticillasters 4–12; corollas moderately to densely white-lanate internally abaxially.
P. newberryi
9. Verticillasters 1–3; corollas glabrous internally or sparsely white-lanate abaxially.
P. rupicola
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 87. FNA vol. 17, p. 85.
Parent taxa Plantaginaceae > Penstemon > subg. Dasanthera > sect. Erianthera > Penstemon davidsonii Plantaginaceae > Penstemon > subg. Dasanthera
Sibling taxa
P. davidsonii var. davidsonii, P. davidsonii var. praeteritus
Subordinate taxa
P. barrettiae, P. cardwellii, P. davidsonii, P. ellipticus, P. fruticosus, P. lyallii, P. montanus, P. newberryi, P. personatus, P. rupicola
Synonyms P. davidsonii subsp. menziesii, P. menziesii subsp. thompsonii
Name authority (D. D. Keck) Cronquist: in C. L. Hitchcock et al., Vasc. Pl. Pacif. N.W. 4: 379. (1959) G. Don: Gen. Hist. 4: 639. (1837) — (as Pentstemon)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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