''Penstemon rupicola'' is a species of

penstemon ''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 280 species of flowering plants native to North America from northern Canada to Central America. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. As well as bein ...

known by the common names cliff beardtongue or rock penstemon. It is native to the west coast of the United States from

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

to the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

of far northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it grows in rocky mountainous habitat. It is a clumpy, mat-forming

subshrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...

growing no more than 14 centimeters high. The thick, waxy, oppositely arranged leaves are round or oval and up to 2 centimeters long. The showy wide-mouthed tubular flowers emerging from the mat may be nearly 4 centimeters in length and are shades of light purple to bright pink. ''Penstemon rupicola'' is included in ''Penstemon'' subgenus ''Dasanthera'', along with '' P. barrettiae'', '' P. cardwellii'', '' P. davidsonii'', '' P. ellipticus'', '' P. fruticosus'', '' P. lyallii'', '' P. montanus'', and '' P. newberryi''. It has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment of ''Penstemon rupicola''Washington Burke Museum''Penstemon rupicola'' — UC Photos gallery

rupicola ''Rupicola'' was a small genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The species placed in the genus are endemic to New South Wales in Australia. In 2015 it was found that genus ''Epacris'' is paraphyletic to ''Rupicola'' and ''Budawang ...

Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Washington (state) Flora of the Klamath Mountains Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub