Non-Technical Description:

Higgins’ penstemon is a perennial forb with numerous, clustered, woody-based pubescent stems 10-40 cm tall.  The glabrous lance to spoon-shaped leaves are 13-45 mm long x 1-15 mm wide with entire margins.  The inflorescence consists of 2-10 distinct whorls of lavender to violet colored flowers.  The calyx is 3.7-5.2 mm long with pointed lobes.  The tubular corolla is 12-14 mm long and glabrous.  Anthers are 1.3-1.6 mm long, horseshoe-shaped, and split open only at their midpoint (where the two anther sacs join at the top of the filament).  Flowers June-July.

Similar Species: Penstemon sepalulus has corollas 20-30 mm long and rounded sepals less than 3.2 mm long.

Habitat: Pinyon-juniper, oak-maple, White fir, Ponderosa pine, and Douglas-fir montane scrub communities at 5500-10320 ft (1675-3145m).  Often found on volcanic soils or Navajo sandstone.

Author: Walter Fertig, ASU Herbarium, 1 May 2014