Blowout Penstemon

Blowout penstemon is a short-lived perennial, frequently occurring in large, multi-stemmed clumps containing flowering and vegetative stems. Vegetative stems are commonly up to 1 foot tall, but can sometimes reach nearly 2 feet. Vegetative stems are lax and curved upward from the base. Plants often root from stem nodes if stem nodes are buried in sand. The opposite, linear leaves are lax, 1 to 8 inches long and 1/4 inch to 1 inch wide, and are attached directly to the stem with no petiole. The leaves are greenish-blue and waxy, with no hairs, parallel veins and smooth edges. The flowering stems are stout, up to about 1/2 inch in diameter, and usually 6 to 18 inches tall. Leaves on the flowering stems are up to 3 inches wide, lance-shaped and stiff. The flowering head is cylindrical with 16 to 80 flowers arranged in several whorls. Each whorl is located directly above a pair of stiff, overlapping, leaf-like bracts. The bracts are longer than they are wide with heart-shaped bases. The individual flowers are comprised of a 1 to 1-1/2 inches long, tube-shaped corolla that is milky blue, milky lavender or, rarely, white or pink. The upper lip of the corolla has 2 lobes; the lower lip has 3 lobes. Distinct magenta lines inside the corolla guide insects to the nectar. Source: Stubbendieck, J., J. A. Lamphere, and J. B. Fitzgerald. 1997. Nebraska's Threatened and Endangered Species: Blowout Penstemon. NebraskaLand Magazine brochure series. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Lincoln, Nebraska.