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Penstemon newberryi
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Penstemon newberryi' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Penstemon menziesii var. newberryi (A.Gray) A.Gray
- Penstemon menziesii var. robinsonii Mast.
- Penstemon newberryi f. humilior Sealy
Editorial Note
Bean’s description was based on P. newberryi f. humilior Sealy, a taxon not recognised by North American botanists, and treated as synonym of P. newberryi var. newberryi. Bean’s text below has been adapted to reflect the generally accepted taxonomy.
An evergreen, mat-forming subshrub 11⁄2 ft high; young stems clad with fine, spreading down. Leaves broad-elliptic to almost orbicular, 5⁄16 to 1 in. (or slightly more) long, 1⁄4 to 7⁄16 in. wide, rounded to obtuse at the apex, cuneate at the base, bluntly toothed, dull green, leathery, glabrous; petioles 1⁄16 to 1⁄4 in. long. Flowering stems 3 to 5 in. long, with several pairs of reduced leaves in their lower part and terminated by two to eight flowers rather densely crowded together; pedicels 3⁄16 to 3⁄8 in. long, clad, like the upper part of the flowering stem, with fine glandular down. Calyx about 3⁄8 in. long, with bluntly acute to acuminate lobes. Corolla tubular-funnel-shaped, with scarcely spreading lips, bright cerise-crimson on the outside, about 11⁄4 in. long. Filaments of stamens glabrous; anthers densely bearded. Staminode (infertile stamen) hairy. Ovary glabrous, tapered into the style. Bot. Mag., n.s., t. 4.
Bean described the form most frequently encountered in cultivation, f. humilior Sealy, as less robust than the type, 4 to 6 in. high with shorter leaves.
P. newberryi is a native mainly of California, in the Sierra Nevada, from Tulare Co. northward; also farther north, in south-west Oregon. It was discovered by the geologist J. S. Newberry, who accompanied a railroad survey expedition in northern California and southern Oregon in the middle of the last century. It was in cultivation in Britain by 1872.
F. humilior nas not been recognised by North American botanists. Bean notes that “[t]he origin of the plant described above under that name is unknown, but it was originally distributed earlier this century under the name “P. roezlii”, which properly belongs to a quite different plant. Under this erroneous name it received an Award of Garden Merit in 1931, and even today is still offered under it by some nurserymen. It is perhaps the commonest of the dwarf shrubby penstemons in gardens and one of the most decorative, bearing a profusion of vividly coloured flowers in May and June. It is hardy, provided it is planted in full sun and a well-drained soil, and is easily propagated by tip-cuttings in June, or even as late as September.”