Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Herb or subshrub, to 100 cm tall, stems glabrous, glaucous.

Leaves: Opposite or sessile, clasping, conspicuously toothed, thin, widely triangular-ovate.

Flowers: Pink or purple, corolla tube cylindric, gradually expanding, with the upper lip 2-lobed, hairy on the upper side, calyx lobes mostly ovate, 2 nectaries at the base of the upper stamens, glandular inside and out.

Fruits: Capsule, dehiscing between the locules and/or septa.

Ecology: Found in gravelly, dry soils in desert washes, canyon floors, among creosote scrub, and juniper-pinyon woodlands, from 2,000-7,000 ft (610-2134 m); flowering spring-summer.

Notes: The clasping leaves with their marginal teeth and the shiny green color, combined with the bright pink to purple flowers are key.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Penstemon is from Greek pente, five and stemon, indicating the five stamens of the genus, while pseudospectabilis can be linked with falsely spectacular.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011