PENTSTE'MON BARBA'TUM. 
Var. Mexicans. 
BEARDED PENTSTEMON. 
Class. 
DIDYNAM IA. 
Order. 
ANGlOSt’ERMIA . 
Natural Order. 
SUnOPHULARIACEAi. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
Mexico. 
6 feet. 
July, Aug. 
Perennial. 
in 1838. 
No. 777. 
Some of our readers, it may be confidently pre- 
sumed, have been puzzled in their attempts to 
distinguish Pentstemon from Chelone. It could not 
be otherwise, since botanical writers were not agreed 
either on their characters or the propriety of their 
separation. 
Their characters, as determined by Mr. Bentham, 
are sufficiently distinct, still it cannot be forgotten 
by the public that a sacrifice of convenience is 
made whenever a change of nomenclature is 
adopted. Dr. Lindley in the Botanical Register, 
(21, 1839) doubtless felt this, and has the following 
observation on the subject, under his description 
of our present species. “ It may appear necessary 
to offer some explanation of having changed the 
name of this plant from Chelone to Pentstemon. 
These two genera have been divided by the former 
having woolly anthers, and the latter smooth ones ; 
and supposing that this were really the essential 
distinction between them, the subject of this notice 
would belong to Pentstemon, Others have dis- 
tinguished the genera by the form of the flower, 
ascribing to Chelone a corolla short, inflated and 
195 , 
