PENSTEMON 



poise and all of the color of violet tricolor pansies; indeed in the 

 South the plant is cultivated as a substitute for the pansy. The 

 foHage is dark-green and abundant; the flowers are terminal and 

 axillary. The calyx is angular and winged. 

 The corolla-tube is open and slightly curved, 

 a soft golden tint at base becoming pale-blue 

 as it expands into a broad border. The 

 upper lobe of the border is pale-blue, the 

 lateral lobes dark violet-blue, and the lower 

 middle lobe pale-blue above, dark-violet be- 

 low, with a dash of yellow in the middle. 



Looking directly into the corolla one finds 

 against the glowing golden centre two pale- 

 blue stamens which have clasped hands at the 

 mouth of the tube and hold between them 

 the stigma. The flower is beautiful from 

 whatever point of view it is observed. The 

 plant is tolerant of many conditions, will grow 

 in sun or in shade and as its habit is bushy 

 the plants, if set about eight inches apart, 

 will cover the ground. It is best treated in 

 masses, as we treat pansies. Varieties, of course, are forming: 

 dlba, called White Wings, has pure-white flowers; and grandifidra 

 has very large ones. Did the florists think it worth while, the 

 •plant, doubtless, could be made to vary as much as the pansies. 



Torenia. Torenia 

 Fournibri 



PENSTEMON. BEARD TONGUE 



Penstemon digitalis. 



Pensiemon, Greek for five stamens, all five being present in this 

 genus, whereas related genera have only four; one of the stamens 

 is commonly sterile. 



Penstemon is a North American genus of perennial herbs, containing 

 about one hundred species. The flowers are tubular, often two-lipped, 

 and borne in showy terminal racemes. The stems of a few species are 

 woody at the base. Penstemon digitalis is native to Pennsylvania and 



•the Middle West. 



411 



