Penstemon whippleanus A. Gray

vernacular Whipple's penstemon — species · Scrophulariaceae

USDA: PEWH
GBIF: 3171516
Rank: species

Whipple's penstemon (Penstemon whippleanus) — Platephotograph · Mac LewisCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

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

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

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

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -34 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 117 min.
Precipitation: 13–35 in/yr
pH range: 7–8
Root depth: 6 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Multiple Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 3 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Purple
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Fall
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Moderate
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 800,000
Propagation: seed, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Contracting Only
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: High
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 2 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/PEWH ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/3171516 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

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