Beside A Rushing Mountain Stream, A Plant With These Distinctive Light Violet Color Flowers Is Discovered. Notice The Tapered Sword Shaped Leaves Come Directly From A Central Stem.

…And To The Right, Hidden In The Sage, Is A Second Plant, With 3 Orangish Blossom Buds.

…… Characteristic Of This Volet Colored Flower Is 3 Lower Roundish Petals At The Bottom Of Blossom, And At The Top Are 2 Somewhat Vertical Elongated Petals.

…These Flowers Are Similar To A Family of Flowers Genus Penstemon, Commonly Called Beardtongue, Which Have The Same Characteristic Shape. ..… Approximately June 21, 2002.

Beartooth Highway (US-212), ~1 mile East of junction with Rt-296 ~26 Miles EastSouthEast of Cooke City, MT. As I was climbing down to get a good photo of the very loud rushing Mountain Stream, I discovered the /\ Above /\ Photo.

…Thus, the /\ Above /\ Photo, and the NEXT Photo, is demonstrated proof of the above “you must stop and get out of your car and go on short hikes”.


LEARN MORE WIKIPEDIA =>
… Penstemon digitalis (known by the common names foxglove beard-tongue, foxglove beardtongue, talus slope penstemon, and white beardtongue) is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. The flowers are white and are borne in summer. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southeastern United States. Penstemon digitalis is the most widespread species of Penstemon east of the Mississippi River.
…Like other Penstemon species, it is used in roadside planting because it is easily grown and showy. It is recommended for easy use in gardens from the Midwest to the Atlantic coast and Pacific Northwest by the American Penstemon Society.] Iowa's Living Roadway Profiler from the Iowa Department of Transportation says that the plant's "decorative seed capsules add interest in the fall and winter".
…One of the plant's cultivars is named Husker Red because of its red foliage that has white or bluish-pink flowers. The Perennial Plant Association chose the Husker Red cultivar of Penstemon digitalis as the 1996 Perennial Plant of the Year. The author of the book Perennial All-Stars described Husker Red as "a stunning flowering perennial" and that "you can easily see why the Perennial Plant Association chose this perennial above all others". …

… Penstemon digitalis (known by the common names foxglove beard-tongue, foxglove beardtongue, talus slope penstemon,[2] and white beardtongue) is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. The flowers [this`subspecies] are white and are borne in summer. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southeastern United States.[1] Penstemon digitalis is the most widespread species of Penstemon east of the Mississippi River.[4]Click Here For Wikipedia Penstemon Digitalis.

Click Here For Google Search Result That Is As Close I Can Find To The /\ Above /\ Photo. With Color Photos & Flower Name & what leaves look like.

Click Here For Google Search Result That Is As Close I Can Find To The /\ Above /\ Photo. With Color Photos & Flower Name & what leaves look like.

NOTE1: The fact that these distinctive light violet color flowers are NOT shown on WebPages such as previous photo’s mention, Yellowstone Park & Wyoming Wildflowers Page, means that they are less likely to be found.

NOTE2: It is only with Google’s well organized collection of images of “Penstemon Azureus” flowers, that I was able to find the name of this plant, and then good links to good images.

NEXT Photo is a general view of this “Rushing Mountain Stream”, and the general flora on the mountain side.
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(Photo = 106-0648_IMG,JPG ...... ZMM Page = NA ...... WayPt = 150)