About Penstemon clevelandii A.Gray
Penstemon clevelandii is an herbaceous plant. Mature plants reach 30 to 70 centimeters tall, with stems that either grow straight upward from the base, or grow outward a short distance before curving upward. It has a woody caudex that resembles rhizomes. Its leaves range from dark green to glaucescent, and are coated in a thin wax layer that gives them a blue-green hue. This species produces both basal leaves that grow directly from the plant's base, and cauline leaves that attach to stems. Basal leaves and the lowest cauline leaves are ovate (egg-shaped), with smooth to coarsely toothed edges. They measure 15 to 90 millimeters long and 8 to 35 millimeters wide. Stems hold four to seven pairs of leaves total, with upper leaves shaped from deltoid-lanceolate to cordate. The inflorescence sits on the upper portion of the stem, and is 10 to 65 centimeters long. It may be hairless or covered in glandular hairs. It usually holds six to twelve groups of flowers, all facing the same direction away from the stem; occasionally it may hold as many as 22 flower groups. Each flower group contains two cymes, with two to eight flowers per cyme. The flowers are tubular, with expanded, lipped mouths. They may be pink, magenta, or red-purple, lack nectar guides, and are covered in glandular hairs on the outside. The interior of the flower may be hairless, or have the same type of glandular hairs as the exterior. Flowers are 17 to 24 millimeters long. The staminode is 6 to 11 millimeters long, does not reach the flower's opening, and is either hairless or only weakly covered in yellow hairs. Flowering can occur as early as February and as late as June. This species is native to southern California in the United States and Baja California, Mexico. In California, it only occurs in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties, where it grows in the Peninsular Ranges, the San Jacinto Mountains, the Sonoran Desert, and some mountains in the Mojave. In Baja California, it grows on the desert side of the Sierra de Juárez, ranging south as far as Bahía de los Ángeles. Penstemon clevelandii grows on rocky or sandy slopes, in association with pinyon-juniper woodlands, scrub, or chaparral. In Baja California, it is mostly found growing in soils formed from decomposed granite, and tends to grow among rocks in arroyos.
