General: Bridge Penstemon (Penstemon rostriflorus) is a perennial forb with opposite, lanceolate leaves and stalks that hold aloft red, tubular flowers. The tubular flowers have five petal lobes. Two of the lobes form a hood above the stigma and stamens, two of the lobes form wings to the side, and the last lobe folds down below the tube.
Subshrub; cauline leaf blade not linear, margins entire; staminodes exserted, glabrous; corolla tubular, red; anthers open at the tips.
Bridge Penstemon is an uncommon component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained gravelly areas in the lower mountains in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland), Transition (Yellow Pine Forest), and Canadian (Pine-Fir Forest) life zones.
Around Las Vegas, look for Bridge Penstemon in the mountains, for example Mt. Charleston and peaks in Basin and Range National Monument.
Family: Figwort (Scrophulariaceae). Also called Bridges' Penstemon. |