PENTSTE'MON DIFFU'SUM. 
DIFFUSE PENTSTEMON. 
Class. 
didynamia. 
Order. 
angiospermia. 
Natural Order . 
SCROPHULARI ACEjE . 
Native of I Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
N. America 1 18 inches 
June, Nov. 
Perennial. 
in 1826. 
No. 1207. 
Pentstemon, literally meaning five-stamened, see 
No. 1071. 
There are scarcely any plants to which the garden 
is more deeply indebted for its beauty than Pentste- 
mons. The species are so numerous, and so varied, 
that a complete collection of them, brought together, 
would be highly interesting. The present handsome 
Pentstemon was discovered near the mouth of the 
Columbia River, about five hundred miles north of 
St. Francisco — that not to be forgotten entrance to 
the land of gold. Douglas, who discovered this 
plant, visited' California, and there collected in the 
whole, about eight hundred distinct species. Had 
the gold fever prevailed whilst poor Douglas was 
directing his researches on the banks of the Sacra- 
mento, he too may have been tempted to give up 
his digging for flowers to join the motley throng in 
digging for gold. We may be pardoned the wish 
that it had been so, and a worthy individual thereby 
saved from an untimely death in a bull pit— his 
unfortunate fate, whilst pursuing his botanical re- 
searches. Pentstemon diffusum is of easy culture, 
but liable to be destroyed by severe frost. 
