Gray Beardtongue

(Penstemon canescens)

 

   

 

 

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Gray Beardtongue (Penstemon canescens [Britt.] Britt.)

Identification: Flowers pale violet, large, with a long, tubular corolla and 5 free petal lobes. Petal lobes arranged in two groups; a dorsal group of 2, and a ventral group of 3. One stamen in flower tube with a tuft of hair. Flower tube with fine, gray hairs. Flowers on long flower stalks (pedicels), in an open cluster near the apex of the plant. Stems and leaves with fine gray hairs. Leaves irregular in shape. Upper leaves irregularly toothed and sessile to the stem. Lower leaves tapering at the base to a long petiole. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Southern Illinois and Pennsylvania, southward to Georgia and Alabama.

Habitat: Gray Beardtongue is species of dry woods.

Flowering period: May to June.

Similar Species: The covering of fine, gray hairs on the stems and leaves, and the long, tapering bases of the lower leaves should easily identify this species of Penstemon.

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