Download Penstemon alamosensis

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Penstemon alamosensis
New Mexico Rare Plants
New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council. 1999. New Mexico Rare Plants. Albuquerque, NM: New
Mexico Rare Plants Home Page. http://nmrareplants.unm.edu (Latest update: 19 April 2007).
Penstemon alamosensis
(Alamo beardtongue)
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Scientific Name: Penstemon alamosensis Pennell & Nisbet
Synonyms: None
Vernacular Name: Alamo beardtongue
R-E-D Code: 2-1-3
Description: Perennial; stems solitary or few, glabrous, 3-7 dm tall; leaves entire, opposite,
basal leaves elliptic to lanceolate, stem leaves much reduced, 2-4 pairs, sessile, lanceolate;
inflorescence slightly glandular, more orless secund, usually as much as half the plant height;
calyx lobes slightly glandular, 3-5 mm long, ovate to lanceolate, acute or acuminate,
narrowly scarious; corolla bright red, 20-25 mm long, slightly bilaterally symmetrical, lightly
glandular outside, throat gradually and very moderately inflated, lobes 3-6 mm long,
spreading; stamens included; anthers glabrous, explanate; staminode glabrous, tip not
expanded. Flowers April to June.
Similar Species: Although this plant is not likely to be mistaken for anything else, two other
red-flowered beardtongues, Penstemon cardinalis and P. barbatus, are known to grow in the
same area as P. alamosensis. The flowers of P. cardinalis, another endemic, are also nearly
regular, but are constricted at the orifice (not constricted in P. alamosensis), have long
yellow hairs at the base of the lower lobes (glabrous in P. alamosensis), and the anthers do
not open across the connective (explanate in P. alamosensis). The flowers in P. barbatus, a
widespread species, are markedly bilaterally symmetrical with the upper lobes projecting and
the lower reflexed, the base of the lower lobes is hairy, and the anthers are not explanate.
Penstemon barbatus flowers later in the year (June-September) than P. alamosensis.
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Distribution: New Mexico, Doña Ana, Lincoln, and Otero counties,
west escarpment of the Sacramento Mountains and east side of San
Andres Mountains; Texas, El Paso County, Hueco Mountains.
Habitat: Sheltered rocky areas, canyon sides and bottoms, on
limestone; 1,300-1,620 m (4,300-5,300 ft).
Remarks: Straw (1997) considers Penstemon alamosensis to be the
same as P. havardii, which grows from slightly east of the Guadalupe Mountains of New
Mexico and Texas, and from the Sierra Juárez in north-central Chihuahua, through TransPecos Texas into northeastern Chihuahua and northern Coahuila, Mexico. The specimen of
P. alamosensis from the Hueco Mountains could be P. havardii. Penstemon alamosensis can
be locally common in its limited habitat in the Sacramento Mountains.
Conservation Considerations: This beautiful, conspicuous plant may be susceptible to
collecting in a few frequently visited places. Otherwise, its habitats are relatively inaccessible
and current land uses apparently pose no threat to this species.
Important Literature (*Illustration):
*Heflin, J. 1997. Penstemons: The beautiful beardtongues of New Mexico. Jackrabbit Press,
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Straw, R.M. 1997. Penstemon. In: J. Henrickson and M.C. Johnston, eds. A flora of the
Chihuahuan Desert region. Draft copy published by J. Henrickson, Los Angeles, California.
*New Mexico Native Plants Protection Advisory Committee. 1984. A handbook of rare and
endemic plants of New Mexico. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.
Nisbet, G.T. and R.C. Jackson. 1960. The genus Penstemon in New Mexico. University of
Kansas Science Bulletin 41(5):691-759.
Spellenberg, R.M. 1981. Status report, Penstemon alamosensis. For U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Information Compiled By: David Bleakly, 1999
Agency Status:
Taxon
USFWS State of USFS BLM Navajo
NM
Nation
Natural
Heritage NM
Global
Rank
Penstemon
SoC
S3
G3
SoC
Sen
SS
.
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alamosensis
Photo credits in header Peniocereus greggii var. greggii © T. Todsen,
Lepidospartum burgessii © M. Howard, Argemone pleiacantha ssp. pinnatisecta © R.
Sivinski
©2005 New Mexico Rare Plant Technical Council