Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, woodlands. Spring, summer. 
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, June 8, 2004.

This tiny Penstemon typically grows in one foot diameter circular patches, primarily in the dry soils of the Pinyon-Juniper and Ponderosa  communities, but it will grow to several feet in diameter and ten inches tall if it receives good moisture -- as it did in 2005.  Flowers are about a half inch long, often profuse, and always a very lovely pale lavender.  It is common to see thousands of these plants in bloom along the Prater Ridge Trail and they are quite common in similar habitats in the Four Corners area.

William Weber indicates that the species name refers to the similarity of the leaves of Linarioides to the leaves of another Scrophulariaceae, the genus Linaria which in turn has its name because of similarities with Linum (Flax).  And all of this is from the Latin "lin", a "line", i.e., they all have somewhat similar linear leaves.

The plant was first collected for science by Charles Wright in New Mexico in 1851-1852 and was named by Asa Gray in 1858.

Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, woodlands. Spring. summer.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, June 8, 2004.

Semi-desert, foothills. Openings, woodlands. Spring. summer.
Prater Ridge Trail, Mesa Verde National Park, June 19, 2005.

This unusual albino Penstemon linarioides grew among the multitude of P. linarioides in the incredibly massive blooming of 2005.