Plant Name

Scientific Name: Penstemon subulatus

Common Names: Hackberry Beardtongue, Arizona Scarlet-bugler

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: Red

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall

Description: The semi-bilateral, slender, tubular flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) long with 5 spreading lobes and stamens that do not project beyond the flowers. The leaves are green or grayish, opposite, and narrowly linear.

The similar Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii) has projecting stamens, broader leaves and flowers, and less spreading flower lobes.

Special Characteristics

Hummingbird Flower – The nectar-filled 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 subulatus M.E. Jones – hackberry beardtongue

More About This Plant

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