Penstemon barbatus |
Penstemon australis |
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beard-lip beardtongue, beardlip penstemon, scarlet penstemon, Southwestern beardtongue |
Eustis Lake beardtongue, southern beardtongue |
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Habit | Herbs. | |||||||||
Stems | erect, sometimes ascending, 30–100 cm, glabrous or puberulent proximally, usually slightly glaucous. |
erect, 30–86 cm, retrorsely hairy and glandular-lanate, not glaucous. |
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Leaves | glabrous or sparsely to densely puberulent, not glaucous; basal and proximal cauline 30–80(–140) × (6–)12–30(–35) mm, blade oblanceolate, base tapered, margins entire, apex obtuse, acute, or acuminate; cauline 3–7(–14) pairs, sessile, 28–142 × 1–8(–15) mm, blade lanceolate to linear, base tapered, apex acuminate, sometimes acute. |
basal and cauline, not leathery, retrorsely hairy, sometimes also glandular-pubescent, rarely glabrate; basal and proximal cauline 32–130 × 7–40 mm, blade spatulate to oblanceolate, base tapered, margins entire or ± serrate, apex rounded to obtuse; cauline 5–8 pairs, sessile or proximals short-petiolate, 16–122 × 3–23 mm, blade lanceolate, base clasping or tapered, margins ± serrate, apex acute to acuminate. |
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Thyrses | ± secund, sometimes cylindric, 11–69 cm, axis glabrous, verticillasters 6–14(–19), cymes (1 or)2–4-flowered; proximal bracts linear, 15–70(–126) × 1–10 mm; peduncles and pedicels spreading to ascending, glabrous. |
interrupted, narrowly conic, rarely conic, 7–26 cm, axis ± glandular-pubescent, verticillasters 3–6, cymes 2–6-flowered, usually only 1 branch of each cyme elongating, others nearly sessile or distinctly shorter, 2 per node; proximal bracts lanceolate, 3–20 × 1–4 mm, margins entire; peduncles and pedicels erect, sometimes ascending, ± glandular-pubescent. |
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Flowers | calyx lobes ovate to lanceolate, (3–)4–6(–9) × 1.9–2.8(–3.2) mm, margins entire or erose, glabrous or obscurely glandular-pubescent; corolla red or orangish red to crimson or scarlet, with reddish violet nectar guides, bilaterally symmetric, strongly bilabiate, tubular-funnelform, 26–32(–36) mm, glabrous or sparsely white-lanate or yellow-lanate internally abaxially, tube 5–8 mm, throat 5–6 mm diam., not constricted at orifice, slightly 2-ridged abaxially, abaxial lobes strongly reflexed, adaxial lobes projecting; stamens exserted (but usually concealed beneath projecting adaxial lip), pollen sacs opposite, proximal 1/4–1/3 indehiscent, 1.5–2(–2.2) mm, sides glabrous or sparsely to moderately lanate-villous, hairs white, to 1.5 mm, sutures papillate or denticulate, teeth to 0.1 mm; staminode 15–17 mm, included, tip straight, glabrous; style 22–27 mm. |
calyx lobes ovate to lanceolate, 4–5.2 × 1.6–2.3 mm, sparsely glandular-pubescent; corolla white to pinkish or light lavender, with dark purple nectar guides, tubular, 20–25 mm, glandular-pubescent externally, moderately white-lanate internally abaxially, tube 4–5 mm, throat abruptly inflated, 4.5–6 mm diam., 2-ridged abaxially; stamens included, pollen sacs opposite, navicular, 1.2–1.5 mm, dehiscing completely, connective splitting, sides glabrous, sutures papillate; staminode 11–14 mm, exserted, 0.4–0.7 mm diam., tip straight to slightly recurved, distal 8–10 mm densely pilose, hairs yellow, to 2 mm; style 10–12 mm. |
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Capsules | 10–14 × 6–8 mm. |
6–9 × 4.5–6 mm, glabrous. |
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Penstemon barbatus |
Penstemon australis |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | |||||||||
Habitat | Sandy pine and oak woodlands, pine savannas, hammocks, granite hills, sandy open areas. | |||||||||
Elevation | 10–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; NM; TX; UT; n Mexico
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AL; FL; GA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Penstemon barbatus is among the more widespread and conspicuous penstemons in the desert Southwest and Southern Rocky mountains. Putative hybrids reported between P. barbatus and P. comarrhenus, P. glaber, P. strictus, and P. virgatus were summarized by F. S. Crosswhite (1965); putative hybrids involving P. pseudoputus and P. putus also are suspected among some herbarium specimens. Penstemon barbatus is widely cultivated for its showy flowers; cultivars with yellow corollas also exist. Penstemon barbatus was reported for Suffolk County, Massachusetts (D. W. Magee and H. E. Ahles 2007); that report, or that those plants persisted outside of cultivation, has not been confirmed. Various groups of Apache, Navajo, and Western Keres of Arizona and New Mexico used Penstemon barbatus for drugs, ceremonies, and decorations (D. E. Moerman 1998). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Penstemon australis is known from the southern Atlantic Coastal Plain and eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. The species is confused most often with P. laxiflorus, which occurs farther west. Penstemon australis is distinguished from P. laxiflorus most readily by the stem vestiture; P. australis usually has stems with a mix of short, eglandular hairs and much longer, glandular hairs, while P. laxiflorus has stems with only short, retrorse hairs or, if glandular hairs also are present, they are sparse and occur just below the inflorescences. Penstemon australis also tends to have narrower inflorescences due to the unequal elongation of cyme branches. Ranges of the two species overlap in southwestern Alabama, and many specimens from Baldwin, Escambia, and Mobile counties are morphologically intermediate. Many specimens of Penstemon from the Appalachian Piedmont, especially in northeastern Alabama, northern Georgia, central North Carolina, and western South Carolina, combine morphological features of P. australis and P. canescens. These plants usually have equally developed cyme branches (as in P. canescens) but ascending or erect peduncles and pedicels (as in P. australis). Leaf shape generally is intermediate between P. australis and P. canescens. F. W. Pennell in the 1930s annotated most such specimens as P. australis. F. S. Crosswhite (1965e) also included these specimens in his concept of P. australis, assigning them subspecies status, though he never published the subspecies names that he used in his thesis and on herbarium sheets. The relationship of these plants remains unclear; they will key to P. canescens or P. laxiflorus. A. E. Radford et al. (1968) gave a chromosome number of n = 8 for Penstemon australis; this does not appear to be supported by any other published chromosome count. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 146. | FNA vol. 17, p. 195. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Plantaginaceae > Penstemon > subg. Penstemon > sect. Elmigera | Plantaginaceae > Penstemon > subg. Penstemon > sect. Penstemon | ||||||||
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Synonyms | Chelone barbata | |||||||||
Name authority | (Cavanilles) Roth: Catal. Bot. 3: 49. (1806) — (as Pentstemon barbata) | Small: Fl. S.E. U.S., 1060, 1337. (1903) — (as Pentstemon) | ||||||||
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