About Penstemon australis Small
Penstemon australis Small is a herbaceous plant that grows 30 to 86 centimeters (12 to 34 inches) tall. Its flowering stems are covered in stiff, backwards-facing, woolly, glandular retrorse hairs. Plants grow from a basal leaf rosette, and may produce one or many stems, bearing both basal leaves at the base of the plant and cauline leaves attached to stems. Like the stems, leaves are usually covered in retrorse hairs, and sometimes also have woolly glandular texture, though they may be nearly hairless in rare cases. The basal and lower cauline leaves measure 32–130 millimeters (1+1⁄4–5 inches) long by 7–40 millimeters (1⁄4–1+1⁄2 inches) wide. Their shape ranges from spatulate (spoon-shaped) to oblanceolate (reversed spear-head shaped), with a tapering base and a rounded to widely pointed tip. Leaf edges can be smooth or somewhat toothed. Stems hold five to eight pairs of leaves, which become somewhat smaller further up the stem, with tapered bases that may clasp the stem. Cauline leaf edges often have a red tint. The plant's inflorescence is a 7 to 26 centimeter (3 to 10 inch) long thyrse, holding three to six widely spaced flower groups. Each of the paired branched flower sub-groups (cymes) contains two to six flowers. Usually one branch of the cyme is much longer than the others, with the remaining branches attaching almost directly to the main stem. Penstemon australis produces pink to rose-purple two-lipped tubular flowers. The upper lip has two lobes, and the lower lip has three lobes. Dark purple nectar guides are present on the flower. The interior of the flower is covered in dense woolly white hairs, described as white-lanate. Flowers are 20–25 millimeters (3⁄4–1 inch) long, and flowering occurs from March through June. This species is native to the southeastern United States, ranging from Virginia to Florida, and west as far as Tennessee and Mississippi. It is very common on the coastal plains of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. It also grows in the northern half of the Florida peninsula and the Florida panhandle. It occurs in much more widely scattered locations across Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. In Virginia, it has only been recorded in 13 counties, mostly in the southern half of the state. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database does not record an exact location for occurrences of this species in Mississippi. Penstemon australis requires dry, sandy soils, and grows mostly on coastal plains. It is associated with scrub oak and pine barrens. In central Georgia, it grows in areas with soils derived from granite.
