Authors: Greene  

Botanical Description

Stems 10-30cm long, lax, slender. Herbaceous or woody at base. Inflorescence and herbage glandular hairy and frequently clammy. Leaves mostly 1.5-5cm long, sharply toothed to entire. Flowers blue-lavender to light violet, 2.6-3.9cm long. Shifting talus slopes, or rarely in rock crevices well up in the mountains, often near treeline in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah. July to August. Often dramatic in habit and bloom in nature, but notoriously difficult to grow well in cultivation. P.m. var. idahoensis has entire to subentire, often glaucous leaves, glabrous or roughly puberulent, ordinarily not at all glandular. Inflorescence more compact. Western Custer to northern Elmore County, west Idaho. P.m. var. montanus has more or less strongly toothed, often glandular and hairy, leaves and a looser inflorescence. Remainder of the range.