PENSTEMON 



sometimes in such abundance as to make large beds, 

 then again only a few blossoming tufts stand among 

 the tall grasses. A single root will have eight to ten 

 stems, tall, slender, sparsely leaved, each bearing at 

 its summit a loose, somewhat pointed cluster of flow- 

 ers, white with reddish peduncles and reddish calyx 

 lobes; sometimes the lower part of the corolla is pinkish. 



The corolla, about an inch long, starts as a slender 

 tube, then suddenly expands into a kind of Foxglove 

 shape, moderately two-lipped, the upper lip two- 

 lobed, the lower three-lobed after the fashion of two- 

 lipped flowers. 



The name Penstemon emphasizes the fact that 

 there are five stamens. Many blossoms possess five 

 stamens and there is nothing particular said about it. 

 But these stamens are different; four of them on 

 bent filaments put their anther-heads together, sur- 

 round the style and produce pollen; the fifth has no 

 pollen duty to perform, but has a bearded, white 

 tongue, slightly yellowed at the tip and lies in the 

 middle of the lower lip. It may be a leader to the 

 nectar, and it may be a discourager of ants; at any 

 rate, there it is. 



Many of the Beard-Tongue species are more or less 

 pubescent, but Digitalis is smooth in stem and leaf — 

 and curiously enough the outside of the corolla is 

 covered with little white glandular hairs which 

 evidently would make matters extremely unpleasant 

 for any crawling creatures especially ants, which 

 tried to reach the nectar within the flower. Apparently 

 that feast is prepared for the bee or bee-like flies only, 

 and if stem and leaves do not defend it, the corolla 

 itself will do so. 



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