Penstemon mensarum

Penstemon mensarum, commonly called Grand Mesa penstemon, is a perennial plant in the veronica family. It has a very limited range in western Colorado, but is also grown in gardens.

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Grand Mesa penstemons are perennial plants with flowering stems that are 25 to 90 centimeters (10 to 35.5 in) tall. They are fully herbaceous and relatively long lived, for a penstemon. Its stems grow straight upwards, might be slightly glaucous or not have any covering of natural waxes, and are hairless. The leaves of the Grand Mesa penstemon are a dull green, but not glaucous, are hairless, lack teeth on their edges, and have faintly visible veins. The basal leaves and the lowest ones on the stems measure 2.8–14.5 centimeters long, but just 0.4–3 cm wide. Their shape is oblong to oblanceolate, like a rounded rectangle or like reversed spear head with the wider part above the midpoint, with smooth edges, tapering bases, and narrow tips. The stems with usually have two to four pairs of leaves, but on occasion may have five. the upper leaves are 2–13.5 cm long and 0.4–3.1 cm wide with a lanceolate shape. The evergreen basal leaves will turn somewhat red-orange in the autumn. The upper part of the flowering stems is the plant's inflorescence. Each measures 10–56 cm and has four to twelve groups of flowers spaced well apart. Each group has two attachment points with one two six flowers that all face in one direction away from the stem. Each group of flowers is accompanied by a pair of bracts 1–5.8 cm long. The flowers are variously described as cobalt blue, verging on iridescent purple-blue, and blue to violet. They measure 16–25 millimeters long with an exterior covered in glandular hairs, but hairless or only having a few glandular hairs inside the floral tube. The two upwards pointing lobes at the mouth of the flower are just 4 mm long while the lower three are longer. The stamens and the single staminode do not extend out of the mouth of the flower. The staminode is 9–11 mm long and somewhat covered in yellow hairs that are 1 mm long. In its native habitat it blooms as early as June or as late as August. The fruit is a capsule 8–10 mm long by 4–6 mm wide.