Penstemon procerus var. formosus

Penstemon procerus var. formosus is a delightful miniature penstemon
suitable for growing in a trough. It's hard to capture the intensity of the
electric blue flowers and even darker blue buds, they seem impossibly
blue, even with the purplish back to the floral tubes.  Flowers early to
mid May, less than 2" (5 cm) in flower.  The variety formosus is 
similar to P. procerus var. tolmiei, except that in formosus there
is usually just a single verticillaster (whorl) of bloom, versus 2-3
verticillasters of bloom in var. tolmiei.
  
This plant came mislabeled as Penstemon procerus v. pulchellus, but there is
 no such combination.  The misidentification has it's roots in England
 where the corrupted name P. pulchellus, or the misapplied name
P. campanulatus pulchellus (a tall red to purple flowered Mexican species)
was applied to this tiny alpine form of Penstemon procerus from Oregon, 
California and adjacent Nevada.

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Photos by Mark McDonough
(taken May 2002)