Gilia Beardtongue
Penstemon ambiguus
Family: Plantaginaceae
Perennial plant growing to about 2’ high and wide. White to pink, phlox-like flowers bloom May through September.
Full to part sun, moderate water with good drainage, hardy to -20°F. Cut back as needed.
The primary pollinators of Penstemon ambiguus are small pollen-collecting bees, although they are also frequently used as landing platforms by flies in genus Oligodranes. Only pollen-collecting bees are attracted to their flowers due to a lack of nectar rewards in the blooms of P. ambiguus.
Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
Penstemon ambiguus on iNaturalist
Larval hosts for many moths and butterflies including the following:
Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia)
Dark Buckeye (Junonia nigrosuffusa)
Anicia checkerspot (Euphydryas anicia ssp. hermosa)
Arachne Checkerspot (Poladryas arachne)
Variable Checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona)
owlet moths (family Noctuidae)
geometrid moths (family Geometridae)
hummingbird clearwing moth (Hemaris thysbe)
An infusion of plant used as an emetic; plant used for spider bites or poultice of plant applied to eagle bites; also used as a fumigant for livestock with snakebites. Hopi noted when the flowers begin to appear to indicate when the season for watermelon planting was over.
Many sources mistakenly translate the Latin name Penstemon as meaning “five stamens”, but this is incorrect. The “pen” in Penstemon doesn’t come from penta (five) but from the Latin paene meaning “nearly” or “almost”, while stemon is derived from Greek for “thread”. “Nearly a thread” is a reference to the staminode, which is almost a functional stamen. The species ambiguus likely alludes to the flowers, which lack the characteristic 2-lipped look of most Penstemon spp.
Found on sand dunes or in sandy soil in desert shrubland and pinyon-juniper woodland, from 2,000-7,000 ft. Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada; south into Mexico.