Sunday, August 5, 2012

Firecracker Penstemon Mystery

Day 2 of our side trip from the Black Hills.  We're covering a lot of ground.  After a nice evening in Kallispell, Montana, we headed south toward Idaho.  The scenery got a lot drier as soon as we entered Idaho.  We had a nice drive to Salmon where we had lunch, and enjoyed the travel through the Canyon between Salmon and Challis.  The juxtaposition between a cool clear river and dry stony canyon walls creates a lot of microhabitats and interesting landscapes.


Although the canyon walls appear barren, there are lots of cool plants, and one of the most showy was a penstemon that might be firecracker penstemon, Penstemon eatonii.  But I'm not entirely sure that this is really a firecracker penstemon. Reliable atlases of flora don't show this plant ranging into Lemhi County, Idaho, but it seems to match Penstemon eatonii.  The leaves are amazingly succulent.  If I was in collecting mode, I'd make it a point to go back and get some seed.  These might provide a hummingbird plant for green roofs, since they seem to grow in rocks and gravel with little soil. 



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