Broadleaf penstemon or beardtongue

Description:

Penstemon platyphyllus. June 24, 1984, Salt Lake County, approx. 5300 ft elevation, north of the base of Big Cottonwood Canyon, to the north of the gun club. Scanned from a slide.This is a fairly narrowly restricted Utah endemic plant species with primarily a Wasatch Front distribution (Davis, Salt Lake, Weber Cos. primarily, reportedly barely into Utah Co., disjunct in Duchesne Co. and in Tooele Co.). It grows in a wide elevational range from along the Bonneville Shoreline (and I have seen it at least as low as 4800 ft.) and is reported from elevations in the 7900 to 8900 ft. range. Habitat is in open, rocky or gravelly places, sometimes in rock crevices. Plants become shrubby and grow easily from seed and are appropriate for horticulture/use (although they do become somewhat malodorous in the fall in a garden setting).