basal leaves are entire, with no teeth or lobes, and 

 are large, being about 3-6 inches long. The stem 

 leaves are shorter, about 1-4 inches long, and are 

 opposite. The plants are in flower from early June 

 to July, depending on weather conditions and 

 altitude. 



B. Technical description: Perennial herb, 3-7 dm. (12- 

 28 in.) tall, with one-several stout stems from a 

 branched caudex; herbage often finely hirtellous- 

 puberulent at least in part; leaves entire, the 

 basal ones clustered, up to 15-20 cm. (6-8 in.) long 

 and 1-2.5 cm. (0.4-1 in.) wide, with petiolate, 

 oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic blades; cauline 

 leaves sessile, opposite, mostly lanceolate, up to 

 ca. 10-12 cm. (4-4.8 in.) long and 1-2 cm. (0.4-0.8 

 in.) wide; inflorescence glabrous, of several-many 

 loose verticillasters, more or less secund in life; 

 calyx 7-11 mm. (0.27-0.43 in.) long, the segments 

 lanceolate to narrowly ovate, evidently but not 

 strongly scarious-margined below, tapering to a 

 long-acuminate or subcaudate tip; corolla bright 

 blue to purplish, 40-55 mm. (1.5-2 in.) long, ca. 

 1.5 cm. (0.6 in.) wide at the mouth; pollen sacs 1- 

 3 mm. (0.04-0.12 in.) long, divaricate, evidently 

 dentate-ciliolate along the sutures, pubescent near 

 the connective and on side away from dehiscence; 

 staminode glabrous; capsules ca. 10-15 mm. (0.4-0.6 

 in.) long; seeds ca. 2-3 mm. (0.08-0.12 in.) long 

 (adapted from Hitchcock et al. 1959; Dorn 1984). 



C. Local field characters: Penstemon lemhiensis is a 

 tall, conspicuous species; when in full bloom, it is 

 easy to see during field surveys. The most reliable 

 distinguishing features include: a.) the large, 

 bright blue corollas, b.) the sharp, narrow, 

 elongated tips on the calyx lobes, and c.) the lack 

 of hairs on the staminode (sterile filament) . 

 Penstemon lemhiensis is thus very distinctive in 

 comparison to other species that were frequently 

 encountered during field surveys (especially P. 

 aridus . P. procerus , and P. radicosus ) . These 

 latter species are smaller in stature, have smaller 

 flowers, and differ with respect to the other floral 

 features. 



D. Identifying characteristics of material which is in 

 interstate or international commerce or trade: No 

 interstate or international commerce or trade known. 



E. Photographs and line drawings: An illustration of 

 P. lemhiensis is presented in Hitchcock et al . 

 (1959) . The color slides (p. 6) are duplicates of 



