General:
Perennial herb from a short, unbranched, underground stem-base; stems 1 to few, clumped, ascending to erect, 15-40 cm tall, glandular-hairy in the inflorescence, otherwise smooth or minutely hairy below.

Leaves:
Basal and lowermost stem leaves short-stalked, lanceolate or elliptic, to 12 cm long, often with scattered short teeth, sometimes poorly developed and usually soon withering; stem leaves opposite, unstalked or nearly so, linear-lanceolate, 2-10 cm long, mostly minutely toothed, smooth.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal, relatively slender cluster of several whorls of few stalked flowers, the stalks glandular-hairy; corollas tubular, 1.5-2.3 cm long, lilac or whitish, strongly 2-lipped, glandular-hairy on the outside, hairy at the throat and whitish within; calyces 4-7 mm long, 5-lobed, the lobes lanceolate to egg-shaped, with or without papery margins, glandular-hairy; fertile stamens 4, the anthers smooth except for the minutely bristle-toothed sutures; sterile stamen gradually expanded toward the tip, yellow-bearded for much of its length.

Fruits:
Capsules, 4-8 mm long; seeds numerous, less than 1 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 glaucus Graham