Foxglove Beardtongue

(Penstemon digitalis)

 

   

 

 

Color Photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

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

 

Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis Nutt. ex Sims)

Identification: Flowers white, 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 hairs. Flowers on long flower stalks (pedicels), in an open cluster near the apex of the plant. Leaves opposite, elongate, widest at the base, with a slightly toothed outer margin. Petioles absent and leaves sessile to the stem. Plant 2 to 4 feet in height.

Distribution: Throughout most of eastern and central North America, but perhaps an escape from cultivation in the eastern part of its range.

Habitat: Foxglove Beardtongue is found in fields, along power lines, prairies, and in open woods.

Flowering period: May to July.

Similar Species: There are other, very similar species of white Beardtongues, most separate on technical characters. However Foxglove Beardtongue is by far and away the most common and widely distributed of these species.

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