A couple weeks ago we took off toward Glenwood Springs, Colorado to monitor P. debilis, <\/em>or Parachute Beardtongue. <\/em>From I-70 looking north you can see the approach raod to get to the place these plants grow.<\/p>\n Sadly you can not see the road zig zagging in this photo, but the site is up in the far oil shale cliffs where they mined for oil shale rock in the 1980's and I think the 1990's.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/a>It looks like a trail zig zagging back and forth switch-back style, a trail you would hike up maybe, but certainly not drive up!\u00a0 Peter assured me our final destination was near the top of the plateau on an upper most zag.\u00a0 He did suggest I sit on the left side of the car so as not to pass out while looking down out the window.<\/p>\n Looking down on the road to the site where we worked with Penstemon debilis.<\/p><\/div>\n We did zig-zag up, and true to Penstemon style, I was amazed at where these plants had decided, (I know there is no deciding in evolution), to evolve to selective pressures and become a species, absolutely unbelievable.<\/p>\n Here is a small population growing near the opening of one of the mine shafts. I think you can see flags indicating individual plants.<\/p><\/div>\n The plants literally live on steep rocky slopes with thin slabs of shale constantly falling on top of them.\u00a0 Just like plants that have adapted\u00a0to shifting sands in sand dune environments, these plants have adapted to\u00a0thin pieces of shale rock constantly covering up their little\u00a0plant bodies.<\/p>\n Shale rock cliffs above the plants. Rocks are constantly falling adding to the talus slope made of shale rock. Actually a rock fell near Peter as we were collecting data!<\/p><\/div>\n Their stems continue to grow outward beyond the rocks that land on them.\u00a0 You begin to realize why this is one of the rarest Penstemons in North America!\u00a0 We proceeded to stretch the measuring tapes across the monitoring site and began the process of counting stems.<\/p>\n This is the population of plants we monitored on the steep shale slope.<\/p><\/div>\n With this plant it is impossible to count plants.\u00a0 Most of the plant is covered with rock which makes it difficult to distinguish separate plants.\u00a0 Carol Dawson decided years ago, when they first began monitoring this little jewel, that the best way to determine the health of the population from year to year was to simply count stems.\u00a0 So count the stems we did.<\/p>\n Peter Gordon counting stems of Penstemon debilis.<\/p><\/div>\n Here I am struggling to keep stable on the shifting shale as I count Penstemon debilis stems.<\/p><\/div>\n We also determined how many stems had flowers or fruit and how many for simply vegetative.\u00a0 I was amazed and the amount of seeds these plants were producing.\u00a0 And with my interest and love for pollination biology, I wondered which bees were hard at work pollinating this plant.\u00a0 Most Penstemons are pollinated by Osmia bees, so I suspect these were insects hard at work weeks before the seeds developed.<\/p>\n Penstemon debilis flowering. Notice all the seeds below the plant indicating a bee was hard at work weeks before!<\/p><\/div>\n Another lovely shot of this extrordinary plant, Penstemon debilis. <\/p><\/div>\n And then you have to wonder, where do those seeds go with all of this rock, and just how do the seedlings get started??\u00a0 It really is all so amazing that species can survive in such seemingly adverse environments.\u00a0 I think this is one of the most\u00a0incredible plants I have seen and had the honor to work with, and this is by far one of my favorite experiences this summer.<\/p>\n It is hard to believe September 09 has rolled around so quickly!\u00a0 It seems like we were all together just weeks ago watching condors sore along the Grand Canyon’s south rim.\u00a0 As\u00a0I am certain those amazing birds continue to sore … Continue reading ![\"Sadly](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/DSCF2001.jpg\")
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