WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO
Scarlet red, tube-shaped flowers line one side of stems reaching 2-feet tall. Note the small flower lobes are not spreading or bent backwards, and the leaves are triangular shaped.
FLOWER: May–June. Clusters of two flowers along one side of stem; flowers scarlet, tubular, 3/4–1 1/4-inches long (2–3 cm); hairless, opening with 5 equal, rounded lobes held straight forward (not spreading, curled back or upward); staminode hairless, fertile stamens hidden inside tube in NM varieties.
LEAVES: Basal with short stems (petioles), stem leaves opposite and stemless (sessile) to clasping. Triangular blades 1 1/4–10-inches long (3–10 cm) and 3/8–2-inches wide at base with a tapering point; margins entire, sometimes wavy.
HABITAT: Dry sandy, gravelly soils, mesas, canyons, slopes, roadsides; scrublands, pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa-oak.
ELEVATION: 6,600–9,500 feet.
RANGE: AZ, CA, CO, NV, NM, UT.
SIMILAR SPECIES: Two varieties in NM: var. eatonii has hairless herbage; var. undosus has herbage covered with short hairs. Scarlet Bugler (Red Penstemon), P. barbatus, another red penstemon in northern NM, has lower flower lobes that bend sharply backwards exposing the stamens.
NM COUNTIES: Scattered in northern NM in mid- to high-elevation, dry habitats: Lincoln, Rio Arriba, San Juan, Santa Fe.
FIRECRACKER PENSTEMON
PENSTEMON EATONII
Plantain Family, Plantaginaceae (formerly in Scrophulariaceae)
Perennial herb
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• Clusters of two flowers grow along one side of the stem.
• Flowers are narrow and tubular with small, rounded, forward-facing lobes (arrow), with stamens hidden inside.
Leaf blades triangular. Basal leaves have short stems. Stem leaves sessile (stemless) or clasping.
Penstemon eatonii var. undosus has herbage covered with short fine hairs (arrow).
Penstemon eatonii var. eatonii is hairless.
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