When we hike the hills in June or the mountains in July, we usually spot patches of small-flowered penstemon alongside paths, in open glades, and on the forest-grasslands boundary.
- Penstemon procerus is a 20-40 cm perennial herb that emerges in late spring.
- The flowers are quite distinctive with a complex whorl of tubular flowers around the end of the stem.
- From a woody base, clumps of stems (surrounded by a cluster of lanceolate leaves) grow horizontally and vertically. Smaller opposite growing lance-shaped leaves grown from the stem below the flower clusters.
- The penstemons often grown on gravelly glacial till or on rocky slopes.
- The flower is also called tall beard-tongue.
- Click an image for a location and date and a larger-sized image. All shots taken by the author.
- Many seeds from in capsules after flowering.
- Two varieties grow in the Interior – penstemon procerus var. procerus (pincushion beard-tongue) and penstemon procerus var. tolmei (less common in the Interior). The latter has a more developed base, has shorter stems, and has only one whorl of flowers at the tip.
- Because of the complex 3-D flowers, this is not an easy wildflower to photograph. We find it easier to avoid macro shots to ensure better depth of field if the light is sufficient to provide high resolution shots to be cropped after the fact.