Penstemon procerus

According to Bob Nold's Penstemons, tolmiei is a variety of the species Penstemon procerus, as indicated on your seed packet.  Var. tolmiei occurs in the Olympics and Cascades of Washington, and in southern BC, and varies in some ways from the other varieties of which there are "at least" 5.  (The Lodewick guide also describes 6 varieties.  Let me know if you want to see a description of the ways in which this variety differs from the others.)

It is quite likely that what is now considered a variety of a species, has been known as a full species at some time, though I don't know anything about this particular case.

We came across this remarkable cream-flowered form of Penstemon procerus v tolmei on the Skyline Trail on Mount Rainier a couple of days ago. None of our wildflower books mention a white P. procerus so we were stumped at first. The only reference to a cream form I could find is in Bob Nold's book where he mentions "Nisqually Cream"  selected by Mark McDonough. The flowers seemed larger than the blue form which is common on the mountain.

Spectacular plant, David. Fine sturdy flower heads too.

Very nice, David.  We saw white and pink flowered P. procerus (or that was what I took them to be) once in the Rockies west of here (scroll to bottom of this thread for photos):
http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=3176.msg85404#msg85404
I don't recall that the flowers were a lot bigger than usual - unusual colours though.

Lori, that certainly looks like another creamy form of P. procerus to me. Perhaps more common than I realized?

I Googled Nisqually Cream and passing through an ice cream parlour in Olympia, Washington I eventually stumbled on this detailed account of the flowers on the Skyline Trail posted by Loren Russell on Alpine-L.  This dates back to the year 2000 when the NARGS annual conference was in Tacoma (which was the original local name for Rainier).

http://mailman.science.uu.nl/pipermail/alpine-l/2000-August/002291.html

Loren commented on the cream form of P. procerus v tolmiei on the ridge above the Nisqually Glacier.  The photos I posted were of a second group at the eastern end of the Skyline Trail.

David wrote:

We came across this remarkable cream-flowered form of Penstemon procerus v tolmei on the Skyline Trail on Mount Rainier a couple of days ago. None of our wildflower books mention a white P. procerus so we were stumped at first. The only reference to a cream form I could find is in Bob Nold's book where he mentions "Nisqually Cream"  selected by Mark McDonough. The flowers seemed larger than the blue form which is common on the mountain.

Ah memories!  Yes, my wife and I walked the Skyline Trail well above Paradise (one of the two visitor center locations on Mt. Rainier), and I found three albino plants that day.  This was between the years of 1982-1986. The best of the white finds was a robust white-flowered Penstemon procerus var. tolmiei form, with really showy flowers.  I nicked a small cutting which was rooted and introduced as 'Nisqually Cream', named for the fact it was within sight and ear-shot of the rumbling Nisqually Glacier.  It should be noted that var. tolmiei is a very dwarf form of tolmiei found in alpine zones, the blue to purplish forms are exquisite too.

Also found was a pure white form of Veronica wormskjoldii which I felt was quite special not only on account of flower color, but it was shorter, spreading, and more showy than many of the typical blue forms.  I also rooted a cutting of this, and I believe sent it to Siskiyou Rare Plant Nursery, but ultimately nothing came of that one.

The last albino found was a pure white Phyllodoce empetriformis among millions of regular pink forms (and no, I'm not confusing this with Cassiope mertensiana which is also present).  I didn't take any cuttings of that one, went back a week later to get cuttings, but then could not refind exactly where I had found it.

I'm amazed at how many plants you've introduced, Mark!  Were you able to continue this with your move to the east?

McDonough wrote:

The last albino found was a pure white Phyllodoce empetriformis among millions of regular pink forms (and no, I'm not confusing this with Cassiope mertensiana which is also present).  I didn't take any cuttings of that one, went back a week later to get cuttings, but then could not refind exactly where I had found it.

Has to be before the GPS days ;)

Hoy wrote:

Has to be before the GPS days ;)

Lori wrote:

I'm amazed at how many plants you've introduced, Mark!  Were you able to continue this with your move to the east?

Not only were these pre-GPS days, most importantly they were BC days (before children) when I could actually get stuff done ;D