Mojave beardtongue

Description

Penstemon incertus is a species of penstemon known by the common name Mojave beardtongue. It is endemic to California, where it can be found in many of the southeastern mountain ranges, including the southern reaches of the Sierra Nevada, the Tehachapis, and the mountains of the Mojave Desert region. It is a member of the flora in scrub and woodland, among Joshua Trees and in sandy washes. It is a rounded, branching, erect shrub reaching one meter in maximum height. The thick leaves are linear to lance-shaped with rolled, untoothed edges and reaching up to 7 centimeters. The glandular inflorescence produces several wide-mouthed tubular or funnel-shaped flowers measuring 2 to 3 centimeters long. The flowers are blue-purple, glandular on the outer surface and mostly hairless inside except for the hairy staminode. Penstemon the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 250 species of flowering plants native mostly to the Nearctic, but with a few species also found in the North American portion of the Neotropics. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. Formerly placed in the family Scrophulariaceae by the Cronquist system, new genetic research has placed it in the vastly expanded family Plantaginaceae. Prairie-clover (Penstemon speciosus) They have opposite leaves, partly tube-shaped, and two-lipped flowers and seed capsules. The most distinctive feature of the genus is the prominent staminode, an infertile stamen. The staminode takes a variety of forms in the different species; while typically a long straight filament extending to the mouth of the corolla, some are longer and extremely hairy, giving the general appearance of an open mouth with a fuzzy tongue protruding and inspiring the common name beardtongue. Most penstemons are deciduous or semi-evergreen perennials, the remainder being shrubs or subshrubs. Heights can range from 10 cm to as much as 3 metres. The one Asiatic species previously treated in Penstemon is now placed in a separate genus Pennellianthus. This leaves Penstemon a mostly Nearctic genus, with a few neotropical species. Although widespread across North America, and found in habitats ranging from open desert to moist forests, and up to the alpine zone, they are not typically common within their range.