''Penstemon spectabilis'' is a species of penstemon known by the common name showy penstemon or showy beardtongue. It is native to southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, where it grows in the

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, scrub, and woodlands of the coastal mountain ranges.

Description

''Penstemon spectabilis'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

growing erect to a maximum height often exceeding one meter. The thin leaves are lance-shaped to oval, serrated on the edges, and up to 10 centimeters in length. The oppositely arranged pairs may fuse about the stem at the bases. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

bears wide-mouthed tubular purple-blue flowers which may be over 3 centimeters long. The throat is lighter in color, lavender to nearly white, and hairless inside. Flowers bloom April to June. This plant is often a pioneer species in habitat recently disturbed. It is pollinated by

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

s such as ''

Pseudomasaris vespoides ''Pseudomasaris vespoides'' is a species of pollen wasp in the family Vespidae The Vespidae are a large (nearly 5000 species), diverse, cosmopolitan family of wasps, including nearly all the known eusocial wasps (such as ''Polistes fuscatus' ...

'', as well as by

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

Taxonomy

Varieties

* ''Penstemon spectabilis'' ''var. spectabilis'' The nominate variety. The inflorescence is glabrous (lacking hair). This variety is distributed across the San Gabriel and

San Bernardino Mountains The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain � ...

, and the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

from California to Mexico, reaching its southern distribution at northwest the foothills of the

Sierra de San Pedro Martir Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

. * ''Penstemon spectabilis'' var. ''subinteger'' A variety

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to Baja California, commonly known as the Peninsular showy beardtongue, found from the vicinity of San Telmo and San Quintin south to the Bahia de Los Angeles. * ''Penstemon spectabilis'' var. ''subvicosus'' This variety has a glandular inflorescence. Native to the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa B ...

of California. 1-IMG 8287-001

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Penstemon spectabilis''''Penstemon spectabilis'' - Photo gallery
spectabilis Flora of California Flora of Baja California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Bird food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Plantaginaceae-stub