General:
Perennial herb from a branched, woody stem-base; stems several, erect, 30-80 cm tall, smooth or finely short-hairy.

Leaves:
Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves opposite, mostly short-stalked, lanceolate to egg-shaped, 3-11 cm long, rather thin, saw-toothed, smooth or somewhat hairy beneath; lowermost leaves reduced.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a loose, branched, terminal panicle of several, stalked flowers, the branches and stalks glandular-hairy; corollas pink-purple or blue-purple, tubular, 2.5-3.3 cm long, glandular-hairy on the outside, smooth within, distinctly 2-lipped, the lower lip longitudinally 2-ridged, much longer than the upper; calyces 6-10 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate to narrowly egg-shaped, entire, glandular-hairy; fertile stamens 4, the anthers densely long-woolly, the filaments long-hairy at the base and minutely hairy above; sterile stamen much shorter than the fertile ones, bearded throughout its length.

Fruits:
Capsules, 11-17 mm long; seeds flattened, wing-margined, 2-3 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Penstemon nemorosus (Douglas ex Lindl.) Trautv.