Palmer's penstemon facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Palmer's penstemon |
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Penstemon
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palmeri
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Palmer's penstemon (scientific name: Penstemon palmeri) is a beautiful flowering plant. It's famous for its pretty, rounded flowers and its lovely smell. This makes it special, as most other penstemon plants don't have a scent! This plant belongs to the Plantaginaceae family. It was named after a botanist named Edward Palmer.
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Where Palmer's Penstemon Lives
Palmer's penstemon grows naturally in the desert mountains of the western United States. You can find it in places like the eastern Mojave Desert in California. It also grows in eastern Nevada, northeastern Arizona, and New Mexico. Further north, it's found in parts of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and eastern Washington.
This plant is a perennial, meaning it lives for more than two years. It's very good at handling dry weather. It likes soils that drain water well and are not too wet. You can often spot it in dry streambeds called washes. It also grows on gentle slopes called bajadas, along roadsides, and on canyon floors. It lives among creosote bushes and in juniper woodlands. It can grow at elevations from about 3,600 to 7,500 feet (1,100 to 2,300 meters).
What Does Palmer's Penstemon Look Like?
Palmer's penstemon grows straight up and can reach a height of about 6.5 feet (2 meters). Its leaves usually grow opposite each other on the stem. They also have small teeth along their edges. The plant's flowers grow in a cluster called an inflorescence. This cluster can be a panicle or a raceme, which are types of flower arrangements. Small leaf-like parts called bracts are found near the flowers.
Each flower has a cup-like base called a calyx, made of five small leaf-like parts called sepals. The main part of the flower is a tube-shaped corolla. This corolla might have a wider opening at the top. Inside the flower, there's a special part called a staminode. This is a sterile stamen, meaning it doesn't produce pollen. It often has some hairs on it.
The flowers are very noticeable and rounded. They are usually pink to violet or blue-purple. Sometimes, you might even see red, yellow, or white flowers. What makes Palmer's penstemon stand out is its lovely fragrance. This scent helps you tell it apart from other similar-looking penstemon plants.
Different Kinds of Palmer's Penstemon
There are three main types, or varieties, of Palmer's penstemon:
- Penstemon palmeri var. palmeri - This is the most common type of Palmer's penstemon.
- Penstemon palmeri var. macranthus - This type is found only in the Great Basin Desert in Nevada. When a plant is found only in one specific area, it's called endemic.
- Penstemon palmeri var. eglandulosus - This type grows only in Utah and Arizona.
Palmer's Penstemon in Nature
Palmer's penstemon is an evergreen plant, meaning it stays green all year round. It plays an important role in nature. It serves as a "host plant" for the larvae (caterpillars) of two types of butterflies. These butterflies are the Arachne checkerspot and the variable checkerspot. This means the caterpillars eat the leaves of the Palmer's penstemon as they grow.
