Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial herb, 10-50 cm tall, from a woody caudex; stems 1-7 per plant, ascending to erect, glabrate or retrorsely puberulent near the base and glandular-pubescent near the top.

Leaves: Opposite along the stems and also in a basal cluster; lower leaves petiolate and upper leaves sessile to clasping; blades oblanceolate to linear, 2-10 cm long and 5-15 mm wide, the margins entire to serrate and sometimes retrorsely puberulent.

Flowers: Purplish and showy, arranged in secund (one-sided) panicles, 5-20 cm long, at the tops of the stems; sepals 5 per flower; ovate to lanceolate, 8-12 mm long; corolla 24-35 mm long, ventricose (asymmetrically inflated), constricted at the throat, and 2-lipped, with the 2 upper lobes projecting (sticking straight out, not curvng upward or downward), and the 3 lower lobes spreading to reflexed (outward- to downward-pointing); outer surface of the corolla white to lavender, pink, or violet and glandular-pubescent; inside surface of corolla white-pilose and glandular pubescent, with magenta or blue-violet nectar guide lines. Staminode (single sterile stamen) prominently exserted (sitcking out) from flower, with a recurved tip, the entire staminode covered with yellow hairs.

Fruits: Capsules 10-16 mm long, glabrous; splitting open longitudinally to release black, angled seeds, 2-3 mm long.

Ecology: Found in sandy, gravelly, or loamy soil in shortgrass prairies and sagebrush shrublands, from 3,500-7,500 ft (1067-2286 m); flowers May-July.

Distribution: CO, KS, NM, TX, south to MEX

Notes: This purple Penstemon is most similar to P. ophianthus but that species has a smaller flower, 14-22 mm long (P. jamesii has a corolla 24-35 mm long). While both species have asymmetrically inflated corollas, in P. jamesii the corolla is abrubtly constricted at the top of the throat, making the inflated portion of the corolla look more bladdery compared to P. ophianthus. Both species are characterized by the single sterile stamen (staminode) prominently sticking out of the flower, curling at the tip, and being covered by yellow hairs. In contrast, P. virgatus has a shorter, flat, non-hairy staminode. P. fendleri, another purple Penstemon, differs because it does not have an inflated corolla.

Ethnobotany: Used as an analgesic, emetic, and throat aid.

Etymology: Penstemon comes from the Latin paene, nearly or almost, and Greek stemon, thread, alluding to the single sterile stamen within each flower; jamesii honors American naturalist Edwin P. James (1797-1861).

Synonyms: Penstemon brevibarbatus

Editor: AHazelton 2017