Nat. OrD. SCROPUULARIACEiK. 



PEXTSTEMON BEARD-TONGUE. 



Penisicmon jmlescens. 



"Flowers spring up and die ungatliered." 



l^-M^^I^'^ ^^^^^ Pentstcmon is a slender, elej^ant brancliin": plant, not 

 sV^P'* unlike in outline to the fox-glove. The flowers are deli- 

 fcS eately shaded from white to pale azure-blue, societiraes 



%-^' varying to deeper blue. The corolla is an inflated slen- 



der tu]>e, somewhat flattened on the upi)er side, with a rigid line 

 passing from the base of the tube to the upper lip. There are 

 also two bearded lines within. The lower lip is three-cleft and 

 slightly projecting beyond the two-lobed upper lip ; the stamens are 

 five, but one is sterile and thickly beset with fine white hairs (or 

 bearded). The name is derived from a Greek word simiifvino- five. 

 The root leaves are broadly lanceolate and coarsely toothed ; the 

 upper or stem-leaves narrower, and nearly clasping the stem. The 

 flowers grow on long branching stalks in a loose panicle. 



The plant is perennial, from one to two feet in height; it seems 

 addicted to dry gravelly soil on river banks and dry pastures. The 

 Beard-tongue would be well worthy of cultivation ; though less showy 

 than the garden varieties, it is not less beautiful and keeps in bloom 

 a long time, from July to September; it might be mixed with the red 

 flowering plants of the garden to great advantage. 



