Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Buckley's penstemon

BUCKLEY'S PENSTEMON

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Penstemon buckleyi Pennell

Russell County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 6-32 inches

Family: Plantaginaceae – Plantain Family

Flowering Period: April, May, June

Stems:

Erect or ascending, 1-5, stout, unbranched, glabrous, waxy.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, thick, firm, glabrous, waxy; basal leaves stalked, oblanceolate to spatulate, 1 to 6 inches long, to 1.25 inch wide; tips blunt or pointed, often terminating in short, abrupt bristles; stem leaves clasping, lanceolate to ovate, 1 to 4 inches long, .5 to 1.25 inch wide, often crowded.

Inflorescences:

Panicles, elongate, to 22 inches long, with 2-35 verticillasters (whorl-like clusters) of 2-11 flowers; bracts clasping, lance-ovate to ovate, tips pointed, reduced above.

Flowers:

Calyces 5-lobed, glabrous, waxy; corollas funnel-shaped, to 3/4 inch long, lavender, pale pink, or pale blue, slightly 2-lipped, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed; throat with conspicuous reddish purple lines; stamens 5, 4 fertile, 1 sterile, bearing golden-yellow hairs at tip.

Fruits:

Capsules, egg-shaped, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, woody; seeds small, numerous, brown.

Habitat:

Sandy soils.

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas.

Comments:

Named for Samuel B. Buckley, state geologist of Texas and botanist who lived from 1809-1884.

Buckley's penstemon flower