Biorepository Data Portal

Jepson 1993, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Herb or subshrub, to 100 cm tall, stems glabrous, glaucous. Leaves: Opposite or sessile, clasping, conspicuously toothed, thin, widely triangular-ovate. Flowers: Pink or purple, corolla tube cylindric, gradually expanding, with the upper lip 2-lobed, hairy on the upper side, calyx lobes mostly ovate, 2 nectaries at the base of the upper stamens, glandular inside and out. Fruits: Capsule, dehiscing between the locules and/or septa. Ecology: Found in gravelly, dry soils in desert washes, canyon floors, among creosote scrub, and juniper-pinyon woodlands, from 2,000-7,000 ft (610-2134 m); flowering spring-summer. Notes: The clasping leaves with their marginal teeth and the shiny green color, combined with the bright pink to purple flowers are key. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Penstemon is from Greek pente, five and stemon, indicating the five stamens of the genus, while pseudospectabilis can be linked with falsely spectacular. Synonyms: None Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011