Penstemon caesius

San bernardino beardtongue

Family: Plantaginaceae · Type: shrub · Native

San bernardino beardtongue is a California native shrub found in southern Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel Mountains, and San Bernardino Mountains in rocky ridges and open conifer forest and alpine communities at elevations of 1,800 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces purple-blue flowers 15 to 23 millimeters long with a hairy flower floor and glandular exterior. Growing 20 to 80 centimeters tall with a subshrub form and glaucous, glabrous herbage, it has an upright, somewhat scapose structure. Its leaves are primarily basal, with widely obovate to round blades 15 to 43 millimeters long, attached to slender petioles and featuring entire margins. Its distinctive purple-blue flowers feature a calyx 3.7 to 7.5 millimeters long with lanceolate or ovate lobes, creating a striking appearance in alpine and high-elevation mountain environments.

Habitat: Rocky ridges and slopes in open conifer forest and alpine communities

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1800-3400 m

Bioregions: s SNH, SnGb, SnBr.

California counties: Tulare, San Bernardino, Kern, Los Angeles, Inyo, Fresno

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.