Stems 6–20 inches tall, often with 2–5 from the base, have whorls of trumpet-shaped, white, or rarely pale-lavender to purple, flowers. Note the black anthers, beardtongue with a few yellow hairs, and the red guidelines in the flower throat.

FLOWER: May–July. Whorled clusters of 3/4 inch long (20 mm), tubular flowers grow at intervals along the stem. The slightly inflated tube opens with a lower lip with 3 equal lobes and short, scattered white hairs, and an upper lip with 2 lobes; distinct red lines (insect nectar guides) mark the lower throat (not the lips); 4 stamens have white filaments and contrasting black anthers; the beardtongue (sterile stamen) has a light fringe of yellow hairs. The flowers and sepals and upper stem are covered with glandular hairs.

LEAVES: Basal and opposite on stem. Basal blades spatula-shaped to oblong, reach 3 inches long (8 cm) with short stems (petioles) and pointed tips. Stem leaves become stemless (sessile), lance-shaped to oblong, covered with short hairs; margins entire or with small, irregular teeth.

HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils of grasslands, savannas, hills, roadsides; short grass prairies, mesquite-juniper woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,500–7,706 feet.

RANGE: Throughout Great Plains and Rocky Mountain eastern slopes; TX to MT.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Wand-bloom Penstemon, P. virgatus has hairless flowers that grow  on only one side of the stem and red lines that extend down the lower lips. Palmer’s Penstemon, P. palmeri, has pinkish-white flowers with an extended beardtongue densely covered with yellow hairs. Foxglove, P. cobea, native to the Great Plains but naturalized and spreading in ne NM, has a larger flower, 1–2 3/8 inch long (2.6–6 cm), with an abruptly inflated tube.

NM COUNTIES: Common on eastern grasslands, uncommon elsewhere: Bernalillo, Colfax, Curry, Quay, San Juan, San Miguel, Union.