Page 21 - The Black Range Naturalist Vol. 4, No. 3

County, Texas during 1880. (That species is not found in California according to BONAP.)
During 1880, George R. Vasey Jr. collected extensively in California (including Marin County), at one point forming a “collecting team” with Samuel Bonsall Parish. (See image above.)
Dr. Hubbard notes that the specimen in question (P. spinulosus) might be an individual introduced from California. The collection site for this specimen is not specific. P. heterophyllus is generally found at elevations between sea level and 7,000’. The town of Magdalena is located at an elevation of 6,572’. It is likely, therefore, that the specimen was collected in or near the town, rather than in the mountains (which range to 10,783’ in elevation), if it was collected here. The town of Magdalena was an established entity during the referenced time. (By 1885 a railroad spur had been built to the town from Socorro to aid the cattle drives which came from the west.) So it is possible, but, I would argue, unlikely, that someone brought seeds or a specimen to Magdalena from California.
I am not qualified to opine on the question of whether or not this one specimen represented the one and only known individual from a relictual population.
My conclusions, after going down this botanical rabbit hole, are:
The subject specimen was collected by George R. Vasey Jr. during a collecting trip that included sites throughout New Mexico, the El Paso region of Texas, Arizona, and California.
The subject specimen was collected somewhere within its native range in California, either in 1880 or 1881.
Arguing for the 1880 date is the fact that Vasey Jr. collected extensively within the range of P. heterophyllus during that time, as well as the conclusion referenced in the notation of the subject specimen sheet that it was probably collected at the same locale as the specimen shown to the left.
Arguing against the 1880 date is that most of those specimens would most likely have been distributed by 1881, the date on the subject sheet, and that mislabeling a sheet as to (a future) collection date is unlikely.
Arguing for the 1881 date is the fact that Vasey Jr. collected in the species range during that year and it would have been easy to simply mislabel a specimen.
Although it is not possible to know for sure, I surmise that P. heterophyllus (or P. spinulosus)
should not be included in the flora of New Mexico - given the preponderance of evidence. That includes the fact that it is extremely unlikely, but not impossible, that the individual specimen was an introduced [singular] plant or the sole remaining survivor of a relictual population.
USDA considers Penstemon spinulosus Wooton & Standl. to be a synonym of Penstemon heterophyllus Lindl.
ssp. purdyi D.D. Keck, Purdy's Penstemon, which has a range limited to California. P. heterophyllus is known as Bunchleaf Penstemon.
George R. Vasey - Sr. & Jr.
Like many a significant contributor to our society, Vasey was an immigrant, being born in England during February 1822.
Early in his life he became well acquainted with John Torrey and Asa Gray - through luck, the kind of serendipity which all to often determines the course of our lives. In his mid teens he was clerking in a local store when the luck struck, his first meeting with a fellow botanist:
"I remember well that one day as I was standing in the doorway of the store, I saw a gentleman
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