Penstemon eatonii
{{Short description|Plant species in the plantain family}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Penstemon eatonii 3.jpg
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| status = {{TNCStatus}}
| status_system = TNC
| genus = Penstemon
| species = eatonii
| authority = A.Gray
| subdivision_ranks = Varieties
| subdivision = {{Species list
| P. eatonii var. eatonii |
| P. eatonii var. exsertus | (A.Nelson) C.C.Freeman
| P. eatonii var. undosus | M.E.Jones
}}
| synonyms = See list in Taxonomy
}}
Penstemon eatonii is a species of flowering plant in the genus Penstemon, known by the common name firecracker penstemon. It is native to the Western United States from Southern California to the Rocky Mountains. It grows in many types of desert, woodland, forest, and open plateau habitat.
Description
Penstemon eatonii is a herbaceous plant with a few to several medium height stems that are between {{convert|30 and 100|cm|ft|1|sp=us}} when full grown. The stems can grow straight upright or might grow out and then curve to growing upwards. Their texture might be hairless or covered in backwards facing stiff hairs, but is never waxy or glaucous.{{cite web |url=http://dev.floranorthamerica.org/Penstemon_eatonii |title=Penstemon eatonii |last1=Freeman |first1=Craig C. |date=29 July 2020 |orig-date=2019 |website=Flora of North America |page=148 |language=en |isbn=978-0190868512 |oclc=1101573420 |access-date=22 November 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241122200021/http://dev.floranorthamerica.org/Penstemon_eatonii |archive-date=22 November 2024}} It is relatively short lived perennial.{{Cite book |last1=Cronquist |first1=Arthur |author-link1=Arthur Cronquist |last2=Holmgren |first2=Arthur H. |last3=Holmgren |first3=Noel H. |last4=Reveal |first4=James L. |author-link4=James L. Reveal |last5=Holmgren |first5=Patricia K. |author-link5=Patricia Kern Holmgren |title=Intermountain Flora : Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A. |url=https://archive.org/details/intermountainflo0000unse/page/445 |url-access=registration |language=en |volume=4. Subclass Asteridae (except Asteraceae) |edition=First |location=Bronx, New York |publisher=New York Botanical Garden |pages=445–446 |isbn=978-0-231-04120-1 |oclc=320442 |access-date=21 November 2024}}
Firecracker penstemon has both cauline and basal leaves, those that are attached to the stems and ones that grow directly from the base of the plant, which are very deep green and glossy. The basal leaves and lowest ones on the stems are normally {{convert|5 to 10|cm|0|sp=us}} in length, but on occasion may be as long as {{cvt|20|cm|0}}. Their width ranges from {{cvt|1.5 to 5|cm|1}}, but usually do not exceed {{cvt|2.8|cm|1}}. The lower leaves are wider than ones further up the plant and are attached by petioles. On the stems there are three to five pairs of leaves attached on opposite sides. The lower leaves are obovate to elliptic, teardrop shaped to having ellipse shaped sides with smooth edges. Upper leaves are ovate or lanceolate, egg shaped to spear head shaped, and attach directly to the stem, sometimes with the base clasping and the shoulders of the leaf extended to be heart shaped.
The inflorescence is the upper {{cvt|9 to 45|cm|round=0.5}} of the stem. Each inflorescence has four to twelve groups of flowers with a pair of opposite bracts underneath where they attach. Each group has two cymes, branched parts of the inflorescence usually with one or two flowers, but occasionally as many as four. The bright color of the flowers contrasts strikingly with the darker color of the foliage making this a very striking wildflower. The brilliant color of the bloom is variously described as cardinal red, scarlet, or orange-red.{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Rhoda N. |last2=Nelson |first2=Ruth Ashton |date=1967 |title=Mountain Wild Flowers of Colorado and Adjacent Areas |url=https://archive.org/details/mountainwildflow00robe/page/41 |url-access=registration |format= |type= |series=Museum Pictoral No. 13 |language=en |location=Denver, Colorado |publisher=Denver Museum of Natural History |page=41 |oclc=7034805 |access-date=22 November 2024}} The length of the fused petals ranges from {{convert|24 to 33|mm|in|1|sp=us}}. They are nearly radially symmetrical, only weakly divided into two lips, with the lobes not spreading very much.
Taxonomy
In 1871 Sereno Watson described a species that he named Penstemon centranthifolius, however George Bentham had already used his name for another species in 1835, so this was an illegitimate name.{{cite POWO |id=30182808-2 |title=Penstemon eatonii A.Gray |access-date=22 November 2024}}{{cite POWO |id=808036-1 |title=Penstemon centranthifolius (Benth.) Benth. |access-date=22 November 2024}} The next year Asa Gray published his description of the species naming it Penstemon eatonii. It has three varieties:
{{Species list
| Penstemon eatonii var. eatonii |
| Penstemon eatonii var. exsertus | (A.Nelson) C.C.Freeman
| Penstemon eatonii var. undosus | M.E.Jones
}}
It also has {{table row counter|id=Synonyms}} synonyms of one of its three varieties.{{cite POWO |id=77225984-1 |title=Penstemon eatonii var. eatonii |access-date=22 November 2024}}{{cite POWO |id= |title=Penstemon eatonii var. exsertus (A.Nelson) C.C.Freeman |access-date=22 November 2024}}{{cite POWO |id=187372-2 |title=Penstemon eatonii var. undosus M.E.Jones |access-date=22 November 2024}}
| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" id="Synonyms"
|+ class="nowrap" | Table of Synonyms ! Name ! Year ! Rank ! Synonym of: ! Notes |
| Penstemon amplus {{small|A.Nelson}}
| 1938 |data-sort-value=A | species | var. eatonii | = het. |
| Penstemon centranthifolius {{small|S.Watson}}
| 1871 |data-sort-value=A | species | var. eatonii | = het. nom. illeg. |
| Penstemon coccinatus {{small|Rydb.}}
| 1909 |data-sort-value=A | species | var. undosus | = het. |
| Penstemon eatonii subsp. exsertus {{small|(A.Nelson) D.D.Keck}}
| 1939 |data-sort-value=B | subspecies | var. exsertus | ≡ hom. |
| Penstemon eatonii subsp. undosus {{small|(M.E.Jones) D.D.Keck}}
| 1939 |data-sort-value=B | subspecies | var. undosus | ≡ hom. |
| Penstemon exsertus {{small|A.Nelson}}
| 1931 |data-sort-value=A | species | var. exsertus | ≡ hom. |
| Penstemon munzii {{small|I.M.Johnst.}}
| 1922 |data-sort-value=A | species | var. undosus | = het. |
| colspan=5 style="text-align: left;" | Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym ; = heterotypic synonym |
|---|
=Names=
The species name was selected to honor Daniel Cady Eaton, a botanist who worked at Yale University.{{cite book |last1=Heil |first1=Kenneth D. |last2=O'Kane, Jr. |first2=Steve L. |last3=Reeves |first3=Linda Mary |last4=Clifford |first4=Arnold |date=2013 |title=Flora of the Four Corners Region: Vascular Plants of the San Juan River Drainage, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah |url=https://archive.org/details/mobot31753003888887/page/n737 |language=en |edition=First |location=St. Louis, Missouri |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |page=720 |isbn=978-1-930723-84-9 |issn=0161-1542 |lccn=2012949654 |oclc=859541992 |access-date=22 November 2024}} In English it is most commonly called the firecracker penstemon.{{Cite book |last1=Heflin |first1=Jean |date=1997 |title=Penstemons : The Beautiful Beardtongues of New Mexico |url=https://archive.org/details/penstemonsbeauti0000hefl/page/18 |url-access=registration |language=en |publication-place= |location=Albuquerque, New Mexico |publisher=Jackrabbit Press |page=18 |isbn=978-0-9659693-0-7 |lccn=98111240 |oclc=39050925 |access-date=22 November 2024}} Related to its scientific name it is also known as Eaton's penstemon, Eaton penstemon, and Eaton's firecracker.{{cite book |last1=Quattrocchi |first1=Umberto |date=2012 |title=CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants |language=en |publication-place= |location=Boca Raton, Florida |publisher=CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group |page=2832 |isbn=978-1-4200-8044-5 |lccn= |oclc=971529928}}
Range and habitat
Penstemon eatonii is native to the southwestern United States, largely in southern Great Basin and the Colorado River Basin.{{cite usda plants|symbol=PEEA |title=Penstemon eatonii |date=23 November 2024}} At its eastern edges it grows in the most western counties of Colorado from Mesa County south to Four Corners.{{cite book |last1=Ackerfield |first1=Jennifer |date=2015 |title=Flora of Colorado |language=en |edition=First |location=Fort Worth, Texas |publisher=Botanical Research Institute of Texas Press |page=591 |isbn=978-1-889878-45-4 |oclc=910162216}} It is only found occasionally in the farthest northwest corner of New Mexico. In Utah it is found from the Wasatch Mountains southward. Its range extends through almost all of Arizona, but only in the southern part of Nevada with an isolated population in the north in Humboldt County. In the far west it reaches California grows in the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert and reaches the San Bernardino Mountains.{{Cite web |url=https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=36930 |title=Penstemon eatonii |last1=Wetherwax |first1=Margriet |last2=Holmgren |first2=Noel H. |date=2012 |website=Jepson eFlora |publisher=University of California, Berkley |language=en |access-date=23 November 2024}} It also is reported in Wyoming and Idaho, but without specific locations.
It grows in a wide variety of habitats including sagebrush steppes, pinyon–juniper woodlands, mountain mahogany scrublands, and Ponderosa pine forests. It does not display a strong preference for slopes compared with flat areas.
=Conservation=
The conservation non-profit NatureServe evaluated Penstemon eatonii in 1990 and at that time rated it as secure (G5).{{Cite NatureServe |date=1 November 2024 |id=2.149632 |title=Penstemon eatonii |access-date=23 November 2024}}
Ecology
Unlike penstemons that are adapted to pollination by bees, the firecracker penstemon has a much longer and narrow floral tube and lacks the wide lobes at the flower's mouth for insects to use as landing platform. Instead it is visited by hummingbirds.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Ronald J. |date=1992 |title=Sagebrush Country : A Wildflower Sanctuary |url=https://archive.org/details/sagebrushcountry00tayl/page/54 |url-access=registration |language=en |edition=Revised |location=Missoula, Montana |publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company |publication-date= |page=54 |isbn=978-0-87842-280-7 |lccn= |oclc=25708726 |access-date=21 November 2024}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|position=left}}
- [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?7177,7483,7504 Jepson Manual Treatment]
- [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Penstemon+eatonii Photo gallery]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7164849}}