Heuchera rubescens

This species, as currently understood, appears to be artificial; it is distinguished mainly by a conservative floral form (for the section) and small plant size. The two varieties outlined below may not even be closely related; they differ in geographic range, petiole hairs, and ploidy (while perhaps only two dozen populations in this complex have been counted, the typical variety appears to be entirely tetraploid, as does var. cuneata; see the American Journal of Botany paper and references therein; I have a few unpublished counts as well).

Heuchera rubescens var. rubescens

Tetraploid, petioles densely covered with glands on very short hairs. A Great Basin plant of riparian microclimates. These pictures come from plants raised from wild-collected seed from Utah.

Heuchera rubescens var. versicolor

Diploid, petioles sparsely covered with relatively long hairs (~1 mm). Leaves a little larger than var. rubescens, especially in material from the Mogollon Rim, Arizona. Replaces var. rubescens approximately south of the Utah-Arizona state line; a typical element of mountain outcrops in the southern Basin and Range, although it occurs in other places as well, such as the Mogollon rim. It occurs south to the northern Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. Populations occurring above the tree line are dwarf forms. My population from Humphrey's Peak, Arizona, is apparently genetically dwarfed -- it has remained so for three years in cultivation. These photographs come from cultivated material from Salinas Peak Mexico (given to me by P. Alexander).