Plant Name

Scientific Name: Penstemon pseudospectabilis

Common Names: Desert Penstemon, Arizona Penstemon, Rosy Desert Beardtongue

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub, Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert (upper elevation), Upland, Mountain

Flower Color: Pink to lavender pink, Rosy red

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: To 39 inches (1 m) tall

Description: The flowers are clustered on tall, upright, leafy stems. The individual flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) long, tubular, and have 5 rounded lobes. The top side of the tubular corolla is flat, while the bottom side has a downward bulge. The leaves are opposite, green, leathery, triangular in shape, and have sharply toothed margins. The the upper leaves are joined together at the base around the stems, forming boat-like leaf pairs.

The similar Palmer's Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri) also has boat-like, joined stem leaves, but it has glaucous blue-green leaves and larger, paler pink, fragrant flowers.

Special Characteristics

Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Scrophulariales
Family: Scrophulariaceae – Figwort family
Genus: Penstemon Schmidel – beardtongue
Species: Penstemon pseudospectabilis M.E. Jones – desert penstemon

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map
Time to Plant Penstemon Seeds! – The Firefly Forest