Authors: Greene
forming dense mats with creeping, woody stems, reaching 5-15cm in length. Leaves thick and firm, glabrous but not usually glaucous, entire to serrulate, usually 5-15mm long and one to two-and-a-half times as wide as long. Flowers 2-3.5cm long, blue-lavender to purple violet. Cascade-Sierra region from British Columbia to California and in the Olympic Mts. of Washington and on Vancouver Island, on ledges, among rocks, sometimes in talus from moderate to high elevations in the mountains. One of the best penstemons for rock gardens. P.d. var. davidsonii has leaves entire, tending to be broadest above the middle, and more consistently rounded or obtuse. The only form of the species in California and most of Oregon, extending northward in the Cascade Range and passing freely into the following: P.d. var. menziesii has leaves obscurely to evidently serrulate, tending to be broadest near or below the middle and sometimes with acutish tips. Plants averaging smaller than P. davidsonii. British Columbia and Washington, south in the Cascades, sometimes into Oregon. Hybridizes freely with the above, even in Nature. P.d. var. m. 'Microphyllus' and 'Serpylhfolius' are fine horticultural selections. P.d. var. praeteritus has flowers 3.4-4.5cm long, blue-lavender to violet. Oregon and northern California. Leaves smaller, often less than 1cm long and with acute, sharp-tipped leaves. Choice, rare, rock garden plant. [Pl.341].
