Hairy Beard Tongue

Other names

Hairy Penstemon

Growth habit

Herbaceous

Perennation

Perennial

Native distribution

Native to the Finger Lakes Region, Eastern North America

Cultivation

A 4-8" tall plant with lavender blue, tubular flowers along the stem.
Light: part shade to full sun.
Moisture and Soil: medium wet to dry, prefers calcareous soils, often found on gorge edges, rock outcrops, and cliff faces; sometimes colonizes disturbed sites.

Propagation

Seed Treatment and Storage: Hairy beardtongue seed should be stored dry and do not require cold stratification. Surface sow as the tiny seeds need light to germinate.

Wildlife value

Hairy beardtongue flowers are visited by a wide variety of long-tongued bees (including honey bees, Apis mellifera), sweat bees (Lasioglossum admirandum), mason wasps (Euodynerus foraminatus), and bee flies (Bombylius atriceps). Several butterflies, including the zabulon skipper (Poanes zabulon), pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor), giant swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), visit the flowers to suck nectar.

Location

Mundy Wildflower Garden, Pounder Vegetable Garden and Climate Change Garden, Edwards Lake Cliffs Preserve, South Hill Swamp

Source of plant

Prairie Moon Nursery, The Plantsmen

Description

Plant with rhizome; stems several, erect, 40-80cm, glabrous or villous below, densely minutely glandular-pubescent above. Leaves 5-12cm, lanceolate to oblong, subentire to dentate, acute at apex, rounded or truncate at base. Inflorecence rather lax, densely minutely glandular pubescent; calyx 5-6mm; corolla 2.5cm, dull purple with white lobes, tube pubescent within. Fruit to 9mm.

USDA Hardiness Zone

5

Status

L3|S5|G4