Mountain blue penstemon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mountain blue penstemon |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Penstemon
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| Species: |
laetus
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Penstemon laetus is a beautiful wild plant. It is often called the mountain blue penstemon or gay penstemon. This plant is a type of penstemon, which is a group of flowering plants. It grows back every year, so it is a perennial plant.
Where It Grows
This plant is found in the mountains of Oregon and California. You can see it from the Klamath Mountains all the way through the Sierra Nevada mountains. It also grows in the Transverse Ranges. Penstemon laetus likes to live in forests and scrublands. It also grows in other mountain areas.
What It Looks Like
The mountain blue penstemon is a plant with soft stems. It can grow up to about 75 centimeters (about 2.5 feet) tall. The bottom part of the plant can become a bit woody. Its leaves are long and narrow, like a spear. They can be up to 10 centimeters (about 4 inches) long.
Its Flowers
The plant has a cluster of blue or purple flowers. These flowers have tiny sticky hairs on their outer surface. Each flower can be up to 3.5 centimeters (about 1.4 inches) long. The flowers are shaped like a wide tube or a funnel. The inside of the flower is mostly smooth, without hairs.
