Key to Penstemons - Wasatch Mts & Bear River Range

1.  Flowers red, more or less tubular 

Distribution: UT (Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch)

Eaton's Penstemon

Penstemon eatonii

1.  Flowers not red, somewhat tubular or more commonly with evident corolla lobes

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2. Flowers pink to wine colored, not blue or purple

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2. Flowers blue or bluish-purple

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3.  Flowers generally light pink and plants as much as 1m or more in height.

 Distribution: UT (Cache, Davis, Utah)

Palmer Penstemon

Penstemon palmeri

3.  Flowers darker pink and plants usually less than 0.5 m  in height 

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4.  Plants low-growing, tufted with multiple stems; leaves entirely borne on the stems, typically sessile or subpetiolate near the base; flowers borne on leafy stems
Distribution: ID (Franklin), UT (Salt Lake, Utah)

Cordroot beardtongue

Penstemon montanus

4. Plants not tufted; leaves generally basal as well as on the stem, stem leaves generally reduced upward

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5.  Corolla lobes not widely expanding, pale pinkish in plants occurring in the canyons along the Wasatch Front, more often wine-colored in the Bear River Range.

Distribution: ID (Bear Lake, Franklin), UT (Cache, Davis, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, Wasatch)

Whipple's Penstemon

Penstemon whippleanus

Wasatch Mountains variety

Whipple's Penstemon

Penstemon whippleanus

Bear River Range variety

5. Corolla lobes expanding widely; plants endemic to northern Utah

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6.  Calyx small and not recurved.

Distribution: plants limited to Utah and Wasatch Counties 

Littlecup Beardtongue 

Penstemon sepalulus

6. Calyx obvious and recurved.

 Broadleaf Penstemon

Penstemon platyphyllus

7.  Plants with persistent, semi mat-forming basal leaves, some with cauline leaves as well 

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7.  Plants with only cauline, not basal leaves

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8.  Plants with densely-flowered inflorescence; flowers small (1.2 cm or smaller); plants 8-40 cm tall (typically on the shorter side).

Distribution: ID (Bear Lake), UT (Cache, Rich, Salt Lake, Summit, Wasatch)

 Littleflower Penstemon

 Penstemon procerus

8.  Plants not as densely flowered; flowers larger than 1.2 (1.4-2.6) cm

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9.  Plants glandular-hairy within the inflorescence; flowers blue-purple with widely spreading lobes; leaves basal and cauline, ovate, oblanceolate, to elliptic, stem leaves smaller than the basal leaves; plants 7-35 cm tall

Distribution: ID (), UT ()

 Low Penstemon

Penstemon humilis

9.  Plants not glandular-hairy within the inflorescence; flowers deep blue with lobes less broadly spreading; leaves primarily cauline, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, upper leaves not becoming significantly smaller on upper portions of the stem; plants generally 10-35 cm tall.

Leonard's Penstemon

Penstemon leonardii

10. Inflorescence strongly secund (flowers borne on one side of the flowering stem); cymes 1-4 flowered; flowers more typically purple-blue, but ranging from blue to dark, upper lobes projecting forward; plants native to Utah, but not the Wasatch Mountains or Bear River Range – introduced through revegetation efforts and found along highways (especially Highway 89 east of Logan) and in several northern Utah ski areas; plants 3-8 dm tall.

Rocky Mountain Penstemon 

Penstemon strictus

 10.  Inflorescence more typically cylindrical, not borne on one side of the flowering stem; cymes 1-7 flowered; flowers blue, upper lobes spreading to somewhat reflexed, flower tubes not appearing inflated; plants endemic to northern Utah and adjacent areas in Idaho and Wyoming

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11. Leaves more or less flat to slightly folded; inflorescence of 2-9 whorls of flowers (verticillasters); plants throughout northern Utah and southern Idaho and southwestern Wyoming; plants 0.6-9 dm tall. 

  Wasatch Penstemon 

Penstemon cyananthus 

11. Leaves folded; plants 1-2.5 dm tall; inflorescence of 1-5 whorls of flowers (verticillasters); 10-25 cm tall; plants restricted to Cache County, Utah and Franklin County, Idaho; plants generally less than 3 dm tall.

Mount Naomi Penstemon

Penstemon compactus