Gairdner's Beardtongue

Penstemon gairdneri is a subshrub, a plant with somewhat woody stems especially towards their base. It has flower-bearing stems that grow upright or out a short distance before curving to grow upwards from a branched, woody caudex, reaching 6 to 40 centimeters in height. The stems are covered in stiff backwards facing hairs and are not glaucous, covered in natural waxes. It also often has short densely-leafy stems lacking flowers that form an open basal mat. During the winter the leaves are deciduous, usually including the ones at the base, leaving the stems an unclothed mound of sticks. The leaves are numerous and are both basal and cauline, attached directly to the base of the plant or to the stems. Leaves are not leathery and can be attached to stems alternately or mostly in pairs on opposite sides of the stems. The basal leaves the lowest ones on the stems are 1 to 7 centimeters long and just 1 to 4 millimeters wide. They may be spatulate, oblanceolate, or linear in shape; like spoons, reversed spear heads, or narrow and resembling those of grass. When opposite stems will have eight to twelve pairs of leaves, when alternating there will be 13 to 25 in total. Leaves higher up the plant are just 7 to 35 mm long and only 1 to 3 mm wide. …

The range of Penstemon gairdneri as a species extends from north central Washington state in Okanogan County southward to Oregon, growing east of the Cascade Range. In Oregon it grows through much eastern of Oregon from Wasco and Lake counties east to Idaho. There it mainly grows in an area from Idaho County south to Canyon County, but with an isolated occurrence to the east in Butte County. Penstemon gairdneri grows in open dry habitats at low to moderate elevation in hills and mountains. It reaches juniper and ponderosa pine forests. It is also associated with open sagebrush deserts and the Channeled Scablands on the Columbia Plateau. It may be found at elevations of 100 to 1,800 meters (300 to 5,900 ft).

Conservation. Penstemon gairdneri was evaluated by the conservation organization NatureServe in 1988. At that time, they rated it as apparently secure (G4). They did not evaluate it at the state level.