Penstemon eatonii
Firecracker Penstemon
Family: Plantaginaceae
Perennial plant growing about a foot high, spreading about 2’. Mostly evergreen though plants need to be cut back occasionally to stimulate new growth. Red tubular flowers spring through fall (the only penstemon that blooms for a longer season, consistently, is P. baccharifolius). Reseeds readily in landscape.
Grow in full to part sun, with moderate water, good drainage, hardy to -20° F.
Flowers are loved by hummingbirds and other pollinators, hummingbirds probably being the primary pollinator for this species. 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)
Used for spider bites, as a fumigant, an emetic, for stomach troubles, as a hemostatic, for backache, applied to snakebites, given to livestock for colic, for washing and healing burns, for ceremonial use, and the flowering period at Hopi indicates when watermelon planting is 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, while eatonii is named for American botanist Daniel Cady Eaton (1834-1895).
Found in sandy to clayey soils from 2,000-7,500 ft. throughout the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico.