Penstemon palmeri
Palmer’s Penstemon
Family: Plantaginaceae
Perennial plant growing to an incredible 5’ tall with bloom spikes, spreading about 2’ wide. Before blooming plants are normally not much more than 2’ tall. Foliage is more silvery blue than the other penstemons. The massive pink flowers occur in summer and are wider than the other penstemons. The large stature of this species combined with its extremely fragrant flowers (sometimes resembling an overpowering perfume) can aid in field identification.
Full to part sun, low to moderate water with good drainage, hardy to -25°F. Cut back as needed. May reseed. Drainage is important with this species. It is sensitive to overwatering, especially in clay soils.
This species is bumblebee pollinated. 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)
The Navajo use it to make a poultice for snakebites.
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 palmeri is named after the botanist Edward Palmer, a self-taught British botanist and an early American archaeologist.
Native to roadsides, washes, canyons, pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine forests, 1000-7000 ft. throughout the western and southwestern United States and barely leaking into adjacent Mexico.
Two varieties can be found in our range and are distinguished as follows:
-var. eglandulosus has glabrous peduncles, pedicels, and calyces
-var. palmeri has glandular-pubescent peduncles, pedicels, and calyces.