A LATE-BLOOMING
BEARDTONGUE
The feeling of the upper elevations was that of
late fall. I hadn't expected that, but it pleased me, for it's been a long time since I've
experienced it, and it's one of my favorite moods. It's a bit after the first killing
frost, but not quite yet full-fledged winter. At that season sunlight is a blessing. Wind
chills menacingly on the body's shadow side, but somehow pleases with its uncompromising
wildness.
One very common and conspicuous wildflower abundantly flowering even at this season was
the one shown below:
That's one of many species of "beardtongue," possibly PENSTEMON GENTIANOIDES.
Beardtongues get their name from the fact that one of each flower's five stamens develops
into a sterile, match-stick-like thing called a staminode, and in many Penstemon
species that staminode bears a "beard" of long hairs.
In the above picture you can see the stiff, pale staminode lying near the corolla
tube's floor, and you can also see that it is beardless -- a beardless beardtongue. You
can also see a high-elevation bee that just happened to zip into the middle blossom the
moment I snapped the picture.
My Manual of Cultivated Plants says that this species, sometimes named Penstemon
hartwegii, is often hybridized with P. cobaea to form a flower-garden
favorite known under the trade name of Penstemon gloxinoides. |