Superb Beardtongue
Penstemon superbus
Family: Plantaginaceae
Perennial plant growing about 2x2’. Blooming hot pink from March into summer. Sometimes they make a second show of flowers in monsoon (if we have received enough rain).
Grow in full to part sun, with moderate water and good drainage, hardy to about -20° F. Cut back as necessary.
Photo by Frankie Coburn, SEINET
Penstemon pseudospectabilis on iNaturalist
Loved by hummingbirds. Larval hosts for the following butterflies and moths:
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)
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 pseudospectabilis is Latin and Greek in origin and means "almost thread" or "from stamen-like staminode"
Found in gravelly, dry soils in desert washes, canyon floors, among creosote scrub, and juniper-pinyon woodlands, from 2,000-7,000 ft. mostly in Arizona but bleeding over into adjacent states all around.