Hackberry Beard-tongue
Penstemon subulatus
Photographed along Camp Creek, n.e. Maricopa Co., Arizona. March 2008.
FLOWERS: Scarlet flowers are long-tubular and may appear partly
two-lipped. Blooming mostly mid spring through early summer.
PERENNIAL: Tall, herbaceous wands from a perennial root-stock. Some
stems may surpass 1½ m
tall; mature plants may have a dozen or more stems from base.
LEAVES: Leaves are lanceolate to linear and are opposite on the stems.
Leaves and stems are glabrous.
RANGE: Fairly common in the mid to upper elevations (
above 600 meters) of the Sonoran Desert along cliff faces and
high on wash banks.
FRUIT: Dry capsules with a number of seeds.
UNARMED.
Like most red flowers, the flowers of P. subulatus are highly attractive to hummingbirds. Indeed hummingbirds are the principal, if not only, effective pollinator.