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Penstemon alamosensis; photograph (c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-04-08

Penstemon alamosensis Pennell & Nisbet

Los Alamos beardtongue; Alamo beardtongue

Plantaginaceae · New Mexico, Texas

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Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY)Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY)Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY)Penstemon alamosensis, photograph (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) 13 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-7.4°C
Record low -16.4 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Jun and Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
456mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
22–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to October and December, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Penstemon alamosensis, commonly known as Alamo penstemon, is a rare species of penstemon from New Mexico and Texas. It is known for its tall flowering stems with coral-red flowers.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Penstemon alamosensis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Penstemon

Penstemon, the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 280 species of flowering plants native to North America from northern Canada to Central America. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. As well as being the scientific name, penstemon is also widely used as a common name for all Penstemon species alongside beardtongues.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Penstemon", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (329 mm of 456 mm) falls in June to October and December, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.8 °C against a yearly mean of 14.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to April and June.

Rain

456 mm in the median year at the habitat, 329 mm of it June to October and December. Wettest month August at 90 mm, driest month April at 15 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 347 mm to 536 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 456 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 456 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 52).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -7.4 °C, the absolute minimum -16.4 °C, 4,120 frost nights in 44 years, 93.6 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 37.9 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -0.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -2.6 °C to 0.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.2 °C in June (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 39 to 51% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +314 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Penstemon alamosensis through the yearWarmest months June and July, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -0.5 °C; 456 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost37.9° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-16.4° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 22–50RH 39–51%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 7 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C11 / 8–1214 / 11–1518 / 15–1922 / 19–2327 / 24–2831 / 28–3231 / 27–3229 / 26–3027 / 24–2822 / 19–2315 / 13–1710 / 8–12
Night °C-1 / -3–11 / -1–24 / 1–58 / 5–913 / 10–1418 / 14–1919 / 15–2018 / 15–1915 / 12–1610 / 7–113 / 1–50 / -2–1
Rain mm24 / 16–2824 / 14–2918 / 9–2215 / 10–1821 / 16–2535 / 27–4279 / 63–9490 / 74–10452 / 44–6139 / 33–4525 / 15–2934 / 25–40
DLI24 / 23–2530 / 29–3139 / 39–4047 / 47–4850 / 50–5150 / 49–5244 / 43–4740 / 40–4338 / 38–3932 / 31–3326 / 25–2722 / 21–23
RH %49 / 47–4947 / 45–4743 / 41–4439 / 37–4039 / 37–4042 / 39–4249 / 47–5051 / 50–5249 / 48–5048 / 46–4847 / 45–4749 / 47–49
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 7 grid cells holding the 12 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1149:1468 (32.525, -106.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.4 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 37.9 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 7 distinct grid cells holding 12 of the 12 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1149:1468 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-106.875, lapse-corrected +314 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1667 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeNew Mexico, Texas · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker32.748, -105.914 · in the densest population, 15 records (94% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 16 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 12 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 10 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 4 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 16 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Penstemon alamosensis, photograph 1did not loadPenstemon alamosensis, photograph 2did not loadPenstemon alamosensis, photograph 3did not loadPenstemon alamosensis, photograph 4did not loadPenstemon alamosensis, photograph 5did not loadPenstemon alamosensis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) bmasinton, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Michelle W. （鍾偉瑋）, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Choisya dumosa Choisya dumosa Mexican orange Photo: CC BY, Nathan AaronEchinocereus coccineus Echinocereus coccineus Scarlet hedgehog cactus Photo: CC0, author not statedEchinocereus fendleri Echinocereus fendleri Fendler's hedgehog cactus Photo: CC BY, CK2AZPelecyphora sneedii Pelecyphora sneedii Cactaceae Photo: CC BY, Martin PurdyZinnia grandiflora Zinnia grandiflora Rocky Mountain zinnia Photo: CC BY, Jo Roberts Hemionitis wrightiana Pteridaceae

Other Penstemon 122 in the reference

Penstemon albertinus Penstemon albertinus Alberta beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadPenstemon albidus Penstemon albidus White beardtongue Photo: CC0, author not statedPenstemon ambiguus Penstemon ambiguus Bush penstemon Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydPenstemon amphorellae Penstemon amphorellae Plantaginaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricardo Jaimes-LópezPenstemon angustifolius Penstemon angustifolius Broadbeard beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Stephen HornbeckPenstemon aridus Penstemon aridus Stiffleaf penstemon Photo: CC BY, John BrewPenstemon arkansanus Penstemon arkansanus Arkansas beardtongue Photo: CC BY, hr_dragonflyPenstemon attenuatus Penstemon attenuatus Sulphur Beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Ellen EirikssonPenstemon auriberbis Penstemon auriberbis Colorado beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Elliott GordonPenstemon australis Penstemon australis Eustis Lake beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Raven DandridgePenstemon azureus Penstemon azureus Azure penstemon Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydPenstemon baccharifolius Penstemon baccharifolius Baccharisleaf beardtongue Photo: CC BY-SA, Turner Brockman all 123 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Plantaginaceae
Described by
Pennell & Nisbet
Native to
New Mexico, Texas
Wild records
16 in range · 10 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-106.875, lapse-corrected +314 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Penstemon alamosensis Pennell & Nisbet (the item's: IPNI 807835-1, POWO 187126-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 6 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…