WRIGHT PENTSTEMON 



Pentstemon wrightii Hooker 



By the side of the winding road leading up the dry slopes of Tum- 

 amoc Hill to the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution, near 

 Tucson, Arizona, I found great clumps of this beautiful pentstemon. 

 The stems supporting the graceful flower panicles were two and a 

 half feet high. The lovely color of the blossoms was a delight to all 

 who passed. The plants grew out of the disintegrated rock of the 

 mountain and subsisted with so little soil that it seemed all but im- 

 possible for them to flourish in such perfection in so arid a spot. 



The pentstemons are named from the fact that in addition to their 

 four normal stamens, they have a fifth sterile stamen which often is 

 conspicuous because it is covered with hairs, and often extends well 

 up toward the mouth of the corolla. The pentstemons belong to the 

 Figwort Family. 



PLATE 386 



