Sonoran Desert Snapdragons

Mostly perenial and annual herbs; few shrubs and vines. Mostly with showy, two-lipped flowers. Fruit a capsule with many seeds.

Parry's Beard-tongue	Penstemon parryi	Owl's Clover	Castilleja exserta
Showy perennial blooming in springtime with bright pink flowers. Southeastern Sonoran Desert, esp. near Tucson. Often planted in xeriscapes. Detailed Description		Showy flowers of wet springs on the desert. Dense spikes of magenta flowers. Spotty distribution. Detailed Description
Desert Beard-tongue	Penstemon pseudospectabilis	Hackberry Beard-tongue	Penstemon subulatus
Perennial with shrubby base. Tough leaves joined across stems forming cuplike basins. Flowers very pink. Blooming in spring. Rocky bajadas and high on wash banks. Detailed Description		Herbaceous perennial with scarlet, long-tubular flowers in spring. Leaves and stems without hairs. Canyons and high on wash banks. Detailed Description

Lesser Indian Paintbrush	Castilleja minor	Cardinal Monkeyflower	Mimulus cardinalis
Scarlet red bracts partially enclose the narrow, pale yellow flower. Occurs in canyons with partial shade and moist soils. Detailed Description		Perennial herb restricted to springs/seeps. Bright red flowers are two-lipped, with four long stamens and a long exserted style. Detailed Description
Wavyleaf Indian Paintbrush	Castilleja applegatei	Seep Monkey Flower	Mimulus guttatus
Sonoran Desert populations with red flowers, glandular-hair leaves, and leaf margins normally wavy. Highest elevations of the Sonoran Desert on rocky slopes and cliff sides. Detailed Description		Spring to early summer annual growing in wet, sandy soil along intermitent streams. Yellow, bilaterally symmetrical flowers. Calyx expands after flowering. Opposite, ovate to elyptic leaves. Detailed Description
Downy Monkeyflower	Mimetanthe pilosa	Bigelow's Monkeyflower	Mimulus bigelovii
Small, annual growing in damp sand of desert washes appearing mid to late spring in the Sonoran Desert. Leaves with soft, white hairs. Yellow two-lipped flowers with maroon-red spots. Detailed Description		Mojave Desert plant found also in sandy washes of the Colorado Desert of s.e. California. After wet winters. Detailed Description