Penstemon yampaensis is a very short species of plant, its stems only reaching 1 centimeter in length.

They range in shape from narrow like grass to oblanceolate, with the wider part past the middle of the leaf.

The flower does not have nectar guides and has pale yellow to whitish fine hairs inside the tube.

[3] The sterile staminode is covered in orange hairs on its upper side and reached beyond the flower opening.

[4] Penstemon yampaensis was given a scientific description as a species and named by Charles William Theodore Penland (1899-1982) in 1958.

[7] Penstemon yampaensis has a natural distribution near where the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming meet.

[1] The Yampa penstemon grows in soils originating from weathered sandstone, often on dry ridgetops, ledges, or hilltops.

It is also impacted by livestock, the long term North American drought, and may also have some of its occurrences disturbed by utility work.