All posts by T. Beth Kinsey

Desert Plants, Herbs and Forbs, Hummingbird Flowers and Plants, Mountain Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family, Spring Blooming Plants, Summer Blooming Plants, Upland Plants

Penstemon eatonii – Firecracker Penstemon

Penstemon eatonii - Firecracker Penstemon, Eaton's Firecracker, Eaton's Penstemon (flowers)

Penstemon eatonii - Firecracker Penstemon, Eaton's Firecracker, Eaton's Penstemon

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Penstemon eatonii

Common Names: Firecracker Penstemon, Eaton's Firecracker, Eaton's Penstemon

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland, Mountain

Flower Color: Red

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer

Height: To 40 inches (100 cm) tall

Description: The hairless, 1 inch (2.5 cm) long flowers are narrowly tubular and have 5 barely spreading, rounded lobes and stamens that project beyond the corolla. The showy flowers are clustered along tall flower stalks. The leaves are green, leathery, opposite, and ovate at the plant base to lanceolate higher up on the plant.

The similar Hackberry Beardtongue (Penstemon subulatus) has non-projecting stamens, narrower leaves and flowers, and more spreading flower lobes.

Both the plants and seeds are commercially available. These attractive, easy to grow plants are popular for both xeriscape gardens and native landscaping.

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 eatonii A. Gray – firecracker penstemon

More About This Plant

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

Desert Plants, Herbs and Forbs, Hummingbird Flowers and Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family, Spring Blooming Plants, Upland Plants

Penstemon subulatus – Hackberry Beardtongue

Penstemon subulatus - Hackberry Beardtongue, Arizona Scarlet-bugler (flowers)

Penstemon subulatus - Hackberry Beardtongue, Arizona Scarlet-bugler

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

Herbs and Forbs, Mountain Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Riparian and Wetland Plants, Scrophulariaceae - Figwort Family, Summer Blooming Plants

Scrophularia parviflora – Pineland Figwort

Scrophularia parviflora - Pineland Figwort

Scrophularia parviflora - Pineland Figwort

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Scrophularia parviflora

Common Name: Pineland Figwort

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Mountain, Riparian. This plant is usually found at higher elevations, but it can also sometimes be found growing at lower elevations in mountain foothill canyons.

Flower Color: Brownish red to pale reddish

Flowering Season: Summer

Height: To 2 feet (61 cm) tall or more

Description: The small, rounded, broadly tubular flowers are borne in panicles and have 5 lobes with a recurved bottom lobe. The leaves are green, opposite, lanceolate, petioled, triangular in shape, and coarsely toothed. The stems are square in cross-section.

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: Scrophularia L. – figwort
Species: Scrophularia parviflora Woot. & Standl. – pineland figwort

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map

Brown and Drab Arizona Flowers, Brown and Drab Flowers, Cactaceae - Cactus Family, Cacti, Common Wildflowers, Conspicuous Fruit or Cones, Desert Plants, Green Arizona Flowers, Green Flowers, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Orange Arizona Flowers, Orange Flowers, Perennials, Pink Arizona Flowers, Pink Flowers, Protected Native Plants, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Shrubs, Spring Blooming Plants, Yellow Arizona Flowers, Yellow Flowers

Cylindropuntia versicolor – Staghorn Cholla

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (orange flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (yellow flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (red flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (pink flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (yellow-green flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (bronze flower)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (fruit)Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla (fruit and stem)

Cylindropuntia versicolor - Staghorn Cholla

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Cylindropuntia versicolor

Synonym: Opuntia versicolor

Common Name: Staghorn Cholla

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Shrub, Cactus

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert

Flower Color: Red, Orange, Yellow, Yellow-green, Pink, Bronze

Flowering Season: Spring

Height: To 7 feet (2.1 m) tall or more

Description: The large, 2 1/4 inch (5.7 cm) wide flowers come in an amazingly wide variety of colors and have yellow-green anther filaments and white to bronze styles. The rounded, mostly spineless, yellow-green to reddish purple fruits stay attached to the stems all winter and often proliferate (new fruits grow out of the old fruits). The immature fruits are green and tuberculate, but the mature fruits swell to become smooth and plump, and they remain on the plant while it is flowering. Although they are not poisonous, the fruits are tough and inedible. The stems are spiny, green to reddish purple in color, and shaped like deer antlers (stag horns). This cactus readily hybridizes with other Chollas, making it quite variable in appearance.

The similar Buck-horn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa) has bumpy, very spiny, brown fruits that drop off before the plant flowers, while the also similar Walkingstick Cactus (Cylindropuntia spinosior) has very bumpy, spineless, yellow fruits that remain on the plant while flowering.

Special Characteristics

Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Caryophyllidae
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Cactaceae – Cactus family
Genus: Cylindropuntia (Engelm.) Kreuzinger
Species: Cylindropuntia versicolor (Engelm. ex J.M. Coult.) F.M. Knuth – staghorn cholla

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map

Desert Plants, Fabaceae - Pea Family, Hummingbird Flowers and Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Poisonous Plants, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Shrubs, Spring Blooming Plants, Summer Blooming Plants, Trees, Upland Plants

Erythrina flabelliformis – Coralbean

Erythrina flabelliformis - Coralbean, Southwestern Coral Bean (flowers)

Erythrina flabelliformis - Coralbean, Southwestern Coral Bean (flowers)Erythrina flabelliformis - Coralbean, Southwestern Coral Bean (red beans)

Erythrina flabelliformis - Coralbean, Southwestern Coral Bean (open seedpods)

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Erythrina flabelliformis

Common Names: Coralbean, Southwestern Coral Bean

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Deciduous

Growth Habit: Tree, Shrub

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert, Upland

Flower Color: Red

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer

Height: To 15 feet (4.6 m) tall, but usually much less here in Arizona due to frosts and limited rainfall

Description: The 3 inch (7.6 cm) long, tubular flowers are in showy terminal clusters at the tips of the woody stems. The flowers often appear before the plants leaf out and are followed by large, brown pods with several large, attractive, highly toxic, red beans. When they are present, the green leaves are divided into 3 fan-shaped leaflets. There are short, curved spines on the stems and leafstalks.

Special Characteristics

Hummingbird Flower – The nectar-filled flowers attract hummingbirds.

Poisonous – All parts of this plant are poisonous, but the red beans are by far the most highly toxic. This plant contains Erythrina alkaloids, which include the curare-like beta-erythroidine. Warning: The brightly colored beans are very attractive to children.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae – Pea family
Genus: Erythrina L. – erythrina
Species: Erythrina flabelliformis Kearney – coralbean

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map