Description
Payette Beardtongue is a stout, herbaceous perennial with 1 to several stems that are 2-7 dm tall and arising from a compact, branched rootcrown. The clustered basal leaves each have a long petiole and an elliptic, entire-margined blade that is up to 15 cm long. The opposite stem leaves mostly lack petioles and are shorter than but nearly as wide as the basal leaves. Foliage is glabrous and thick. The inflorescence consists of several clusters of short-stalked flowers in the axils of reduced upper leaves. The tubular corolla is flared and 2-lipped at the mouth, 18-28 mm long, and bright blue. The 5 lance-shaped calyx segments are 5-8 mm long and have a long tip and a whitish margin below. The 4 anthers are glabrous with small teeth along the line of opening.
Diagnostic Characteristics
There are many species of PENSTEMON in our area; a technical manual should be consulted for identification. P. PROCERUS has smaller flowers, and other similar species lack the teeth along the anther sac sutures. A hand lens will be required for identification.