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.
Species In Genus: 250 species: North America, especially western United States.
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.
Jepson eFlora 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--457Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Penstemon
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