Plantaginaceae

Mats of Penstemon davidsonii var. menziesii near Whistler, British Columbia

Penstemon davidsonii var. menziesii

Published by Daniel Mosquin on June 10, 2019

Menzies’ penstemon or Menzies’ beardtongue is native to British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon. Despite growing in rocky, well-draining soils, plants can be spectacularly floriferous as shown in today’s photograph.

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Digitalis purpurea, foxglove

Digitalis purpurea

Published by Daniel Mosquin on December 24, 2018

Was this purple foxglove intentionally planted against the orange lichen-encrusted wall? The effect of having all three of the secondary colours adjacent to one another is pleasing to me, whether it is by design or not.

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Close-up of Penstemon thompsoniae

Penstemon thompsoniae

Published by Daniel Mosquin on August 1, 2018

The low-growing Thompson’s beardtongue is native to Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California, associated with pinyon-juniper and subalpine habitats. It grows in a relatively narrow elevational band (1500m to 1900m (5000 ft. to 6700 ft.)) and is associated with calcareous soils.

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Close-up of Penstemon murrayanus inflorescence

Penstemon murrayanus

Published by Daniel Mosquin on June 9, 2017

Unsurprisingly, this scarlet penstemon or scarlet beardtongue which I photographed in UBC Botanical Garden a few years ago eventually succumbed to the Vancouver climate. A native of eastern Texas, southwestern Arkansas, southern Oklahoma and western Louisiana, it is a prairie or pine forest edge species of sandy soils–quite unlike any environment we’ve replicated at UBC.

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Grassy Point, Hornby Island, Abstracted

Grassy Point Flower Medley

Published by Daniel Mosquin on May 29, 2017

Two photos taken with some haste, out of respect for one of the local resident killdeer who determined I was too close to its nest.

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Penstemon palmeri var. palmeri inflorescence

Penstemon palmeri var. palmeri

Published by Daniel Mosquin on May 9, 2017

It’s rare to find a species whose native distribution covers much of western USA, but omits Oregon. According to the USDA Plants Database, that is the case with Penstemon palmeri (as of May 2017). Needless to say, this piqued my curiosity.

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Plantago maritima along the ocean shore

Plantago maritima

Published by Daniel Mosquin on March 8, 2017

Visit the temperate or colder shores of North America, South America, Africa, Asia or Europe, and you have a good chance of finding seaside plantain, or Plantago maritima.

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