Phylogenetic Position of Penstemon degeneri, A Sensitive Species From Colorado

Penstemon degeneri Crosswhite is a species of flowering plant in the Plantaginaceae family that produces dark blue flowers and is generally found in decomposing granitic soils in Fremont County, Colorado. P. degeneri is an endemic plant that is on the sensitive species list and is ranked as globally imperiled, and has many significant threats such as motorized and non-motorized recreation, non-native plant invasion, grazing and trampling, and global environmental changes. Overall, there is a significant lack of information about P. degeneri. We undertook an analysis of DNA sequence data to compare P. degeneri to other Penstemon species to elucidate its phylogenetic position. Our analysis used DNA sequence data from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal repeat and the trnL/F region, including the spacer between trnL and trnF and the intron within trnL to create phylogenetic hypotheses for the position of P. degeneri within the known Penstemon diversity. Understanding the phylogenetic position of P. degeneri, as well as its sister species can increase our knowledge of this imperiled species and inform management decisions.