Penstemon angustifolius Nutt. ex Pursh

  • Authority

    Pavlik, Bruce M. & Barbour, Michael G. 1988. Demographic monitoring of endemic sand dune plants, Eureka Valley, California. Biol. Conserv. 46: 217-242.

  • Family

    Scrophulariaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Penstemon angustifolius Nutt. ex Pursh

  • Description

    Species Description - Short-lived perennial herb; stems erect or ascending, 1-4 (6) dm tall, single or few arising from a more or less woody crown, usually surmounting a taproot; herbage glabrous and glaucous; leaves entire, fleshy, mostly cauline, the basal and lower cauline leaves (4) 5-9 cm long, 2-16 mm broad, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, oc- casionally broader in southern varieties, obtuse to rounded apically, tapering to a petiolar base, ascending, the upper leaves 3-10 cm long, 3-20 (40) mm broad, linear to lanceolate or narrowly ovate, acuminate, the narrow tip often long acumi- nate to caudate in the broader ones, sessile; thyrse not secund, leafy, of 6-16 ver- ticillasters, interrupted or aggregated into a continuous thyrse, the cymes usually many-flowered, glabrous; sepals (4) 5-7 mm long at anthesis, to 8.5 mm in fruit, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, acuminate, glabrous or sometimes scabrid-puberulent in var. angustifolius, becoming ribbed with age, the margins narrowly scarious, sometimes only near the base; corolla 15-20 (22) mm long, moderately ampliate, the tube 5-8 mm long, the lobes spreading or projecting, the limb blue to blue- Durple or pink-lavender to pink, often with darker guidelines within the throat, gla- brous externally. the palate sometimes with a few scattered whitish hairs; staminode reaching the orifice, expanded distally, 1.0-1.2 mm broad, bearded at the tip with short, yellow hairs, the hairs 0.5-0.8 mm long, the tin recurved, fertile stamens in- cluded, the anther-sacs (0.9) 1.2-1.5 mm long (after dehiscence), dehiscing the full length and across the connective, spreading but not explanate, glabrous except for the papillate-toothed sutures; capsule 8-12 mm long.

  • Discussion

    The previously named varieties have been variously regarded taxonomically, as their nomenclatural history reveals. The varieties of P. angustifolius can be dis- tinguished by the following characters.