Penstemon fremontii, commonly known as Fremont penstemon, is a species of herbaceous plant that grows where the states of Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado meet in the western United States. It is a penstemon in the veronica family. Because of its limited range it is regarded as vulnerable to extinction.
Fremont penstemon is a herbaceous plant that grows flowering stems that usually reach 8 to 25 centimeters (3 to 10in) in height, but occasionally may be as much 40cm (16in) tall.[4] Plants can have one or more stem that grow from a woody crown that is either thick or branched.[5] The stems are densely covered in retrorse , backwards facing, hairs making them have an ash like color.[6]
Plants can have both cauline and basal leaves, those attached to its stems and leaves growing directly from the base of the plant, but will sometimes lack basal leaves or only have a few. The leaves can be retrorsely hairy and ashy colored like the stems or can be hairless. Basal leaves and the lowest leaves on the stems are typically 3.0–7.5 centimeters (1.2–3.0in) in length but can be as long as 10cm (3.9in). They are usually 2–18millimeters in width, sometimes reaching as much as 27mm, and are oblanceolate to elliptic in shape with a tapering base. Stems will have two to four pairs of leaves attached directly to the stems. They measure 2.2–7.7cm (0.9–3.0in) in length by 3–15mm and are usually lanceolate, shaped like the head of a spear, but occasionally might be oblanceolate, like a reversed spear head.[4]
The flowers are in an inflorescence on the upper part of the stems and fairly packed together.[6] It measures 3 to 28 centimeters (1.2 to 11.0in) long and has as many as 15 or as few as 5 groups of flowers, each with two cymes with one to three flowers.[4] The flowers are blue, blue-purple, or blue-violet and funnel shaped with a violet tube that is 6–8mm long.[5] Both varieties of the species can bloom in May or June, but variety glabrescens will sometimes bloom in July.[7][8]
Taxonomy
Fremont penstemon flowering in Moffat County, Colorado, north of Craig
The autonymic variety nearly always has densely hairy leaves, occasionally only partly hairy.[4] It grows on either somewhat clayey or sandy soils in sagebrush shrublands at elevations from 1,500–2,500 meters (4,900–8,200ft). This variety is more widespread growing in south-central and southwestern Wyoming, northeastern Utah, and northwestern Colorado.[7]
Penstemon fremontii var. glabrescens
Variety glabrescens was described by Robert Donald Dorn and R.W. Lichvar in 1990.[11] It is distinguished from the rest of the species by having hairless or nearly hairless leaves, though it can be occasionally hairy on the midvein or edges of the leaves.[4] This variety is limited to just Garfield County and Rio Blanco County in Colorado at elevations of 1,800–2,500 meters (5,900–8,200ft). It grows barren shale slopes and in rabbitbrush shrublands.[8]
The species was named fremontii in honor of John C. Frémont.[12] It is known by the related common namesFremont penstemon,[6]Fremont's penstemon,[5] and Fremont's beardtongue.[4]
Range and habitat
Alongside Highway 191 one mile south from Duchesne, Utah
When last evaluated in 2002 NatureServe rated the species as vulnerable (G3) at the global level. It was given this rating due to the limited range without information about abundance for Penstemon fremontii. In Colorado and Wyoming it was rated as apparently secure (S4), but was rated as imperiled (S2) in Utah.[1] Though according to Elizabeth Neese in 1986 it was one of the most common penstemons of low-elevation shrub communities in the Uinta Basin.[14]
Welsh, Stanley L.; Atwood, N. Duane; Goodrich, Sherel; Higgins, Larry C. (1987). A Utah Flora. Great Basin Naturalist Memoirs, No. 9 (Firsted.). Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University. JSTOR23377658. OCLC9986953694. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
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