Common Name: PLANTAIN FAMILY
Habit: Annual to shrub, some aquatic. Leaf: basal or cauline, alternate or opposite (whorled), simple, entire to dentate or lobed, venation generally pinnate; stipules 0. Inflorescence: raceme, spike, or flowers axillary in 1--few-flowered clusters; flowers few to many, each subtended by 1 bract. Flower: unisexual or bisexual, radial or bilateral; sepals 4--5, generally fused at base; corolla 4--5-lobed, scarious or not, persistent or not, generally 2-lipped, upper lip generally 2-lobed, lower generally 3-lobed, spur present or not, tube sac-like at base or not; stamens 2 or 4, alternate corolla lobes, epipetalous, staminode 0 or 1--2, anthers opening by 2 slits; ovary superior, [1]2--4-chambered, style 1, stigma lobes 0 or 2. Fruit: generally a capsule, septicidal, loculicidal, circumscissile, or dehiscing by terminal slits or pores.
Genera In Family: +- 110 genera, +- 2000 species: worldwide, especially temperate. Note: Veronicaceae sensu Olmstead et al. Recently treated to include Callitrichaceae, Hippuridaceae, and most non-parasitic California genera of Scrophulariaceae (except Buddleja, Diplacus, Erythranthe, Limosella, Lindernia, Mimetanthe, Mimulus, Myoporum, Scrophularia, Verbascum). California Maurandya moved to Holmgrenanthe and Maurandella. Mohavea moved to Antirrhinum. Limnophila ×ludoviciana Thieret an occasional agricultural weed in rice fields. Hebe ×franciscana (Eastw.) Souster, Hebe speciosa (R. Cunn.) Andersen only cultivated.
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Robert W. Patterson, Bruce G. Baldwin.

Common Name: BEARDTONGUE
Habit: Perennial herb to shrub. Leaf: generally opposite, entire to toothed; distal sessile. Inflorescence: panicle, raceme, cyme, or flowers in whorls; bracts generally small. Flower: calyx lobes 5, +- equal; corolla tube +- cylindric or lower side expanded, +- 2-lipped, generally pink or blue to purple (some red, yellow, or white), upper lip 2-lobed, external in bud; stamens 4, filament bases glabrous, attached to corolla at different levels, anther sacs 2, valves generally spreading +- flat at dehiscence; staminode attached near base of corolla tube, well developed, generally hairy adaxially; nectaries 2, at bases of upper stamens; stigma unlobed. Fruit: septicidal and sometimes also loculicidal at tip. Seed: generally many, irregularly angled.
Etymology: (Latin & Greek: almost thread, from stamen-like staminode) Note: Largest genus of flower plants endemic to North America. Penstemon subglaber, Penstemon strictus may persist in SNH, from commercial wildflower seed mixes or plantings; both native to Rocky Mountains.
eFlora Treatment Author: Margriet Wetherwax & Noel H. Holmgren
Reference: Wolfe et al. 2006 Amer J Bot 93:1699--1713
Unabridged Reference: Holmgren 1984 In Cronquist et al. Intermountain Flora 4:370--457

Habit: Perennial herb 25--150 cm, woody-branched proximally. Leaf: generally cauline, 20--95 mm, linear to oblanceolate, +- entire; base tapered. Inflorescence: +- glabrous. Flower: calyx 4.2--8 mm, lobes lance-acuminate to (ob)ovate; corolla 23--40 mm, blue, glabrous; anther sacs 2.2--3 mm, dehiscing at proximal end to 1/2--2/3 their length, inner margins long-hairy; staminode glabrous.