Penstemon monoensis

Mono penstemon

Family: Plantaginaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mono penstemon is a California native perennial found in the eastern Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert bioregions in sandy and gravelly washes, sagebrush scrub, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 1,200 to 1,800 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces pink to red-violet flowers in a cylindric to narrowly funnel-shaped corolla 15 to 20 millimeters long with a white to pale pink throat. Growing with dense, ashy, backward-pointing hairs and reaching 7 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms an upright herb with distinctive glandular characteristics. Its cauline leaves are lanceolate, 50 to 120 millimeters long, ranging from entire to lightly toothed. The flower features a calyx 8 to 11 millimeters long with lanceolate lobes and a staminode covered in yellow hairs.

Habitat: Sandy and gravelly washes and hills, sagebrush scrub, Joshua-tree and pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 1200-1800 m

Bioregions: SNE, DMoj.

California counties: Inyo, Mono

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