Penstemon teucrioides

Penstemon teucrioides is a low growing mat forming species of perennial plant that has somewhat woody stems. Both the leaves and the stems have an somewhat ashy, gray appearance due to dense, pointed, backwards facing hairs. The stems may fully lay down on the ground ({{plantgloss|prostrate}}) or may curve upwards towards their ends ({{plantgloss|ascending}}). The height of the plant ranges from 2–10 centimeters.{{cite web |last1=Freeman |first1=Craig C. |title=Penstemon teucrioides - FNA |url=http://floranorthamerica.org/Penstemon_teucrioides |website=Flora of North America |access-date=3 April 2024 |date=5 November 2020}} The plants may spread to be about 60 centimeters in diameter.

The leaves are arranged in pairs on the stems with five to nine pairs per stem. Leaves are crowded together and are very narrow. The bases of each leaf is tapered while the ends come to a sharp point, usually with the middle vein of the leaf forming an extended tip (mucronate), but sometimes tapering to the tip (acuminate). They are 4–14 millimeters long and just 0.5–1.4 millimeters wide.

Penstemon teucrioides has showy, funnel shaped, blue or violet flowers, with a white or yellowish interior and reddish-violet nectar guides. The fused flower petals are 15–19 millimeters long, with a tube length of about 6–7 millimters and a width of 4–5.5 millimeters. The sterile staminode is covered in covered in yellow-orange hairs and 8–9 millimeters in length. Flowering may be from May to July in its native habitat, but is occasionally as late as August.

The major iridoids of Penstemon teucrioides are aucubin, isoscrophularioside, and trans-eurostoside. They also have minor amounts of mussaenoside, 8-epiloganin, geniposide, and methyl gardoside.{{cite journal |last1=Stermitz |first1=Frank R. |last2=Foderaro |first2=Tommaso A. |last3=Li |first3=Yong-Xian |title=Iridoid glycoside uptake by Castilleja integra via root parasitism on Penstemon teucrioides |journal=Phytochemistry |date=March 1993 |volume=32 |issue=5 |pages=1151–1153 |doi=10.1016/S0031-9422(00)95081-7|bibcode=1993PChem..32.1151S }}

Penstemon teucrioides was first scientifically described by Edward Lee Greene in 1901 and given its present binomial. It has no subspecies or synonyms.{{cite POWO |id=187810-2 |title=Penstemon teucrioides Greene |access-date=2 April 2024}}{{Cite WFO |title=Penstemon teucrioides Greene |id=0001137150 |access-date=2 April 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Greene |first1=Edward Lee |last2=Baker |first2=Carl F. |title=Scrophulariaceae |journal=Plantae Bakerianae |date=1901 |volume=3 |page=23 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/20227519 |access-date=4 April 2024 |publisher=s.n}}

The species name, teucrioides, means resembling Teucrium, a genus of plants commonly called germanders.{{cite book |last1=Lindgren |first1=Dale Tennis |last2=Wilde |first2=Ellen |title=Growing Penstemons : Species, Cultivars, and Hybrids |date=2003 |publisher=American Penstemon Society |isbn=978-0-7414-1529-5 |pages=87–88 |url=https://archive.org/details/growingpenstemon0000lind/page/88 |access-date=3 April 2024}} It is known by the common name "creeping penstemon",{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Rhoda N. |last2=Nelson |first2=Ruth Ashton |title=Mountain Wild Flowers of Colorado and Adjacent Areas |date=1967 |publisher=Denver Museum of Natural History |location=Denver, Colorado |page=42 |url=https://archive.org/details/mountainwildflow00robe/page/42 |access-date=3 April 2024}} but it shares this name with at least two other species, Penstemon davidsonii and Penstemon linarioides.{{cite book |last1=Zwinger |first1=Ann |last2=Willard |first2=Beatrice E. |title=Land Above the Trees; A Guide to American Alpine Tundra |date=1972 |publisher=Harper & Row |location=New York |isbn=978-0-06-014823-2 |page=260 |url=https://archive.org/details/landabovetreesgu0000zwin/page/260 |access-date=3 April 2024}}{{cite book |last1=Patraw |first1=Pauline Mead |title=Flowers of the Southwest Mesas |date=1977 |publisher=Southwest Parks and Monuments Association |location=Globe, Arizona |isbn=978-0-911408-47-8 |page=104 |url=https://archive.org/details/flowersofsouthwe0000patr/page/104 |access-date=3 April 2024}} To distinguish it from them it is sometimes called the "grayleaf creeping penstemon".{{cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=Ruth Ashton |last2=Williams |first2=Roger L. |title=Handbook of Rocky Mountain Plants |date=1992 |publisher=Roberts Rinehart Publishers |location=Niwot, Colorado |isbn=978-0-911797-96-1 |pages=298–299 |edition=4th |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofrockym0000nels/page/298 |access-date=3 April 2024}} It is also known both as the "germander penstemon" and the "germander beardtounge".{{cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=Ruth Ashton |title=Handbook of Rocky Mountain Plants |date=1969 |publisher=Dale Stuart King |location=Tucson, Arizona |page=249 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofrockym00nels/page/249 |access-date=3 April 2024}}

Penstemon teucrioides is found in central and southern mountains of Colorado. It is endemic to the state of Colorado and has been found in just five counties, Park, Chaffee, Gunnison, Hinsdale, and Saguache. A reported collection of the species from Rio Arriba County, New Mexico in 1915 is generally regarded as an error.

Though it grows in the mountains, this species is found in the sagebrush steppe lands within the mountains such as in South Park and the upper drainage of the Gunnison River. It grows at elevations of 2200–3400 meters.

Though it is not a major source of food, the eastern deer mouse has been observed to eat the seeds of Penstemon teucrioides in September.{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Donald R. |title=Effects of Range Treatment With 2,4-D on Food Habits of Rodents |journal=Ecology |date=April 1964 |volume=45 |issue=2 |page=244 |doi=10.2307/1933837|jstor=1933837 |bibcode=1964Ecol...45..241J }} The parasitic flower orange paintbrush uses P. teucrioides as a host and takes the plant toxin aucubin (see chemistry) in addition to taking energy from it.

Though its range is restricted, grayleaf creeping penstemon is much more widely cultivated in North America and in the United Kingdom. It is noted as being more vigorous in cultivation than the closely related mat penstemon or Thompson's beardtongue by the penstemon experts David Way and Peter James.{{cite book |last1=Way |first1=David |last2=James |first2=Peter |title=The Gardener's Guide to Growing Penstemons |date=1998 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |isbn=978-0-88192-424-4 |page=85 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/gardenersguideto00wayd/page/85 |access-date=3 April 2024}} As is typical of penstemons, they require well drained soil and prefer sand or small rock chips, but are not particular about soil pH. They are typically grown in rock gardens or troughs due to their very short height. The seeds take about eight weeks to germinate. The seeds have relatively low germination rates, only 20% after 30 days at 21°C and also 20% in six days when planted at 4.5°C and then raised to 21°C.{{cite journal |last1=Love |first1=Stephen L |last2=Akins |first2=Candace J |title=Fifth summary of the native seed germination studies of Norman C Deno: species with names beginning with letters P and Q |journal=Native Plants Journal |date=2020 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=95 |doi=10.3368/npj.21.1.83}} It is winter hardy in USDA zones 4–8.{{cite book |last1=Mineo |first1=Baldassare |title=Rock Garden Plants : A Color Encyclopedia |date=1999 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |isbn=978-0-88192-432-9 |page=179 |url=https://archive.org/details/rockgardenplants0000mine/page/179 |access-date=3 April 2024}}

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teucrioides

Category:Flora of Colorado