Penstemon cyananthus Hook.

vernacular Wasatch beardtongue — species · Scrophulariaceae

USDA: PECY2
GBIF: 3171495
Rank: species

Wasatch beardtongue (Penstemon cyananthus) — Platephotograph · Matt LavinCC BY-SA source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Scrophulariaceae Juss.
Genus: Penstemon

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 1 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Low
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -23 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 110 min.
Precipitation: 16–35 in/yr
pH range: 5.8–7.4
Root depth: 14 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Crown
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 2.5 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Blue
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 290,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 1 N ▾

Teton 30099

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PECY2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3171495 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z