PENSTÈMON o vatu s.
Ovate-leaved Penstenion.
Linnean Class and Order. D ID Y N A M IA A N G IO S P E R M IA .
Natu ra l Order. C H E L O N E A . Calyx 5-partitus. Corolla fauce
ventricosa, limbo 5-loba, bilabiata, ®stivatione imbricatà. Stamina 4 fe r -
tilia didynama ; q u in ti rudimento sterili, smpiùs elongato, barbato. A n-
tliercB biloculares : loculis apice confluentibus. Stigma simplex, indivisum.
Capsula bilocularis, apice septicido-dehiscens, polysperma : septo incompleto.
Semina erecta, compressa, margine membranacea : testa membra-
naceà : albumen carnosum, parcum. Embryo sub-foliaceus.
Herbse v. suffrutices (Amer. Septentr.) Eolia opposita. Inflorescen-
tia paniculata v. spicata.
Obs. Tribus Bignoniaceis proximè affinis, calyce tamen subpoly-
phyllo, stigmate simplici, seminibus erectis albuminosis facile distinauitur.
D. B a n Mss. ^
P E N S T E M O N . Caiya 5-partitus. Coroi/a tubulosa, fauce ventri-
cosa, limbo 5-loba, bilabiata. Staminum quinto sterili, smpiùs elongato,
apiceque barbato. Antherce imberbes. Capsula bilocularis, septicido-
dehiscens : valvis apice bilidis. Semina compresso-angulata, margine
membranacea.
Inflorescentia paniculata!
P .ova tu s, pubescens; foliis ovatis cordatisve dentato-serratis ; radicalibus
petiolatis ; superioribus amplexicaulibus, paniculà racemosà, segmeutis
calycinis lanceolatis, corollis glandulosis.
Penstemon ovatus. Douglas in bot. mag. t. 2903.
The whole herh of rather a dark green. Stems upright,
cylindrical, from a foot to three feet high, thickly clothed
with short spreading hairs. Leaves ovate or cordate, acute,
serrate, with sharp, nearly equal teeth, at first pubescent,
hut afterwards becoming glabrous; radical ones broader, on
long footstalks, sinuately and more coarsely toothed, from
two to four inches long, and sometimes two in breadth, the
base obliquely cordate, or sometimes nearly truncate, slightly
attenuated at the middle; the upper ones and bractes clasping
the stem, and frequently entire. Footstalks narrow, two
to three inches long, channelled above, bluntly keeled below.
Flowers numerous, rather crowded, disposed in a thyrsiform
panicle. Segments of the calyx ovate-lanceolate, rather acute,
with a narrow membranous border, shorter than the tube of
the corolla, and as well as the pedicels furnished with short.
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