SCROPHULARIACEAE FIGWORT FAMILY 
HAIRY BEARDTONGUE 
Pentstemon hirsutus (L.) Willd. 
The Beardtongues are so called because the flowers con- 
tain a sterile stamen that extends up into the throat or mouth 
of the corolla like a tongue and is usually bearded with hairs. 
The Hairy Beardtongue grows 
in rather dry soil in open places, or 
in not too dense woods and thickets 
from Maine to Ontario and Minne- 
sota, south to Florida and Missouri. 
The rather slender stem is 1-3 feet 
high and is downy or hairy nearly 
to the base. The upper leaves are 
sessile but the basal are narrowed 
into the petioles. 
The flowers are produced from 
May to July and the inflorescence 
is glandular hairy. The rather small 
calyx is 5-parted. The tubular and 
2-lipped corolla is light violet or 
purplish. Its throat is nearly closed 
by long soft hairs on the palate at 
the base of the lower, 3-lobed lip. 
The upper lip is 2-lobed. There are 
4 perfect stamens, in pairs, and 1 
sterile that is densely bearded for 
about half its length. The fruit is a 
capsule containing a large number 
of slightly angled seeds. 
The Funnelform Beardtongue, Pentstemon tubiflorus Nutt., is a 
smooth perennial except that the calyx and pedicels bear sticky hairs. 
The straight slender stem is 2-3% feet high and leafless above. 
Leaves are oblong to lanceolate, entire and the upper sessile or clasp- 
ing, the lower narrowed into margined petioles. The flowers, bloom- 
ing from May to July, are in slender compact interrupted panicles. 
The white or purplish funnelform corolla is 1 inch long, with the 
nearly equal 5 lobes spreading. ; 
The Smooth Beardtongue, Pentstemon laevigatus Ait., grows in 
moist or rich soil. The stem is without hairs to the inflorescence and 
has rather firm glossy leaves. The corolla is whitish or purplish and 
gradually enlarged upward so that the throat is wide open. The 
sterile filament is rather thinly bearded for about half its length. 
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