Penstemon cobaea is a flowering plant in the plantain family, commonly known as cobaea beardtongue,[2] prairie beardtongue or foxglove penstemon. The plant is native to the central United States, primarily the Great Plains from Nebraska to Texas, with additional populations in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas. There are also populations reported in the southwestern United States as well as in Illinois and Ohio, but these appear to be introductions.[3][4]
| Penstemon cobaea | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Plantaginaceae |
| Genus: | Penstemon |
| Species: | P. cobaea
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| Binomial name | |
| Penstemon cobaea Nutt. 1836
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| Synonyms[1] | |
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Habitat edit
Penstemon cobaea grows on hillsides, gravel, rocky outcrops, and gypsum soils, and eroded pastures.[5]
Description edit
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Penstemon cobaea is usually about 30 cm (1 foot) tall, but occasionally reaches as much as 1.23 m (4 ft).[6] The flowers are 5–7.5 cm (2–3 in) long[6] and have five lobes, with two large lobes on top and three small lobes on the bottom. The flowers have a structure reminiscent of a ribcage inside, and can be white or pink with magenta lines. The leaves of the plant are broad, at about 3.8–15 cm (1+1⁄2–5+7⁄8 in) long and 0.6–5 cm (1⁄4–2 in) wide.[5][7]
Cultivation edit
The flowers of Penstemon cobaea will eventually become brown and black capsules, which contain the seeds. After planting, the seeds will take about two years to flower. It is good to leave 40 to 50 cm (16 to 20 in) between plants when gardening, and lime is often needed in the soil.[5]
References edit
- ^ "Penstemon cobaea Nutt.". Tropicos. Missouri Botanical Garden.
- ^ USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Penstemon cobaea". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
- ^ "Penstemon cobaea". Native Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
- ^ "Penstemon cobaea". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
- ^ a b c Haddock, Mike (2018). "Cobaea penstemon". Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses.
- ^ a b Taylor, Ronald J. (1994) [1992]. Sagebrush Country: A Wildflower Sanctuary (rev. ed.). Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Pub. Co. p. 52. ISBN 0-87842-280-3. OCLC 25708726.
- ^ Nuttall, Thomas 1836. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series 5(6[3]): 182 parallel descriptions in English + Latin, as Pentstemon Cobaea
