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		Small-flower Beardtongue - Penstemon procerus
		
		
		
		
Native Species
			Global Rank: 
G5
			State Rank: 
S4S5
			
				C-value: 
5
			
			
			
			Agency Status
			USFWS: 
			USFS: 
			BLM: 
		
			
			
				
			
			
				External Links
				
			
		 
	 
	
	 
		General Description
		Stems erect, 5–50 cm. Herbage glabrous or puberulent on the stems. Basal leaf blades oblanceolate, entire, 2–6 cm long. Stem leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1–8 cm long. Inflorescence of 2 to 4 well-separated, dense, glabrous verticillasters; bracts scarious-margined, acuminate. Flowers: calyx 3–4 mm long; sepals lanceolate, erose- and scarious-margined, acuminate; corolla blue, sometimes with a white tube, 6–10 mm long, glabrous; anthers glabrous, opening across their full length. Capsule 3–5 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
 Our plants are variety 
procerus.
 
		
	
	
	Species Range
	
		
			Montana Range
		Range Descriptions
			
			
			
					
						
						Native
					 
				
				
					
			 
			
		 
		
	 
	
    		Range Comments
			AK to MB south to CA and CO  (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
			
		
		Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
		Number of Observations: 506
		
		
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
		Map Help and Descriptions
		
		
			
				Relative Density
				
			 
		
			
				Recency
				
			 
		
		 
		
			
				
			
				
			
					
				
			(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
		 
		
			
		
		
	
		Habitat
		
		
		
	
		Ecology
		POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap: 
Bombus vagans, 
Bombus appositus, 
Bombus auricomus, 
Bombus bifarius, 
Bombus centralis, 
Bombus fervidus, 
Bombus flavifrons, 
Bombus frigidus, 
Bombus huntii, 
Bombus melanopygus, 
Bombus mixtus, 
Bombus nevadensis, 
Bombus rufocinctus, 
Bombus sylvicola, 
Bombus occidentalis, 
Bombus pensylvanicus, 
Bombus bimaculatus, 
Bombus griseocollis, 
Bombus impatiens, 
Bombus insularis, 
Bombus suckleyi, 
Bombus bohemicus, and 
Bombus kirbiellus (Macior 1974, Thorp et al. 1983, Bauer 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Wilson et al. 2010, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Colla et al. 2011, Koch et al. 2012, Pyke et al. 2012, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014, Williams et al. 2014, Tripoldi and Szalanski 2015).
 
		
	
		Stewardship Responsibility
		
		
	
	References
	
		
			- Literature Cited AboveLegend:  
 View Online Publication
Bauer, P.J. 1983. Bumblebee pollination relationships on the Beartooth Plateau tundra of Southern Montana. American Journal of Botany. 70(1): 134-144.
Colla, S., L. Richardson, and P. Williams. 2011. Bumble bees of the eastern United States. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service, Pollinator Partnership. 103 p.
Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.
Koch, J., J. Strange, and P. Williams. 2012. Bumble bees of the western United States. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service, Pollinator Partnership. 143 p.
Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
Macior, L.M. 1974. Pollination ecology of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Melanderia 15: 1-59.
Mayer, D.F., E.R. Miliczky, B.F. Finnigan, and C.A. Johnson. 2000. The bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of southeastern Washington. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 97: 25-31.
Miller-Struttmann, N.E. and C. Galen. 2014. High-altitude multi-taskers: bumble bee food plant use broadens along an altitudinal productivity gradient. Oecologia 176:1033-1045.
Pyke, G.H., D.W. Inouye, and J.D. Thomson. 2012. Local geographic distributions of bumble bees near Crested Butte, Colorado: competition and community structure revisited. Environmental Entomology 41(6): 1332-1349.
Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
Tripoldi, A.D. and A.L. Szalanski. 2015. The bumble bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus) of Arkansas, fifty years later. Journal of Melittology 50: doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/jom.v0i50.4834
Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 p.
Wilson, J.S., L.E. Wilson, L.D. Loftis, and T. Griswold. 2010. The montane bee fauna of north central Washington, USA, with floral associations. Western North American Naturalist 70(2): 198-207.
 
			- Additional ReferencesLegend:  
 View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?
Aho, Ken Andrew. 2006. Alpine and Cliff Ecosystems in the North-Central Rocky Mountains. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 343 p.
Ament, R.J. 1995. Pioneer Plant Communities Five Years After the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 216 p.
Clark, D. 1991. The effect of fire on Yellowstone ecosystem seed banks. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 115 pp.
Culver, D.R. 1994. Floristic analysis of the Centennial Region, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Montana State University, Bozeman. 199 pp.
Fultz, J.E. 2005. Effects of shelterwood management on flower-visiting insects and their floral resources. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 163 p.
Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
Martin, S.A. 1985. Ecology of the Rock Creek bighorn sheep herd, Beartooth Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 152 p.
Martinka, R.R. 1970. Structural characteristics and ecological relationships of male blue grouse (Dendragapus obscurus (Say)) territories in southwestern Montana. Ph.D Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 73 p.
Meier, G.A. 1997. The colonization of Montana roadsides by native and exotic plants. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 45 p.
Osmundson, T.W. 2003. Systematics of Rocky Mountain alpine Laccaria (basidiomycota, agaricales, tricholomataceae) and ecology of Beartooth Plateau alpine macromycetes. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 188 p.
Plaggemeyer, J.B. 1995. Effects of overstory thinning on lodgepole pine understories. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 55 p.
Quire, R.L. 2013. The sagebrush steppe of Montana and southeastern Idaho shows evidence of high native plant diversity, stability, and resistance to the detrimental effects of nonnative plant species. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 124 p.
Saunders, J.K. Jr. 1955. Food habits and range use of the Rocky Mountain goat in the Crazy Mountains, Montana. Journal of Wildlife Management 19(4):429-437.
Saunders, J.K., Jr. 1954. A two-year investigation of the food habits and range use of the Rocky Mountain goat in the Crazy Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 22 p.
Seipel, T.F. 2006. Plant species diversity in the sagebrush steppe of Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 87 p.
Simanonok, M.P., and L.A. Burkle. 2014. Partitioning interaction turnover among alpine pollination networks: Spatial temporal, and environmental patterns. Ecosphere 5(11):149.
South, P.R. 1957. Food habits and range use of the mule deer in the Scudder Creek area, Beaverhead County, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 34 p.
Stevens, D.R. 1965. Range relationships of elk and livestock in the Crow Creek drainage, Elkhorn Mountains, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 68 p.
Strickler, D. 1997. Northwest penstemons. Flower Press, Columbia Falls, Montana. 191 pages.
Williams, K.L. 2012. Classification of the grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, forests and alpine vegetation associations of the Custer National Forest portion of the Beartooth Mountains in southcentral Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 376 p.
 
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