SCROPHULARIACEAE 



FIGWORT FAMILY 



HAIRY BEARDTONGUE 



Pentstemon hirsuins (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 i 

 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 i 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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