Desert Beard-tongue
Penstemon pseudospectabilis
Photographed along Rackensack Canyon, n.e. Maricopa Co., Arizona. April 2009.
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FLOWERS: Impossibly pink tubular flowers with five rounded lobes. Four
normal-looking stamens and one modified into a brush like apparatus set on the
lower inside of the tube-throat. Blooming March and April.
PERENNIAL: Tall, herbaceous wands from a perennial root-stock. Some
stems may approach 1½ m tall;
mature plants may have a dozen or more stems from base. Popular in xeriscape
gardens.
LEAVES: Leaves are opposite on the stems and those on the upper stems
below the flowers are fused. The margins of the tough leaves are sharply
toothed. Leaves and stems are
glabrous. By late fall the whole plant takes on an odd pink color.
RANGE: Fairly common in the mid to upper elevations (
above 600 meters) of the Sonoran Desert high on wash banks or
on rocky bajadas. Less frequent at lowest elevations.
FRUIT: Dry capsules with a many seeds.
UNARMED: Plant lacks thorns, however, teeth along margins of old, tough leaves are prickly.