Keckiella breviflora

Keckiella breviflora
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Plantaginaceae
Genus:	Keckiella
Species:	K. breviflora
Binomial name
Keckiella breviflora (Lindl.) Straw

Keckiella breviflora (formerly Penstemon breviflorus) is a species of flowering shrub in the plantain family known by the common name bush beardtongue.

It is native to many of the western Transverse Ranges, Inner California Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada in California, and its range extends just into Nevada.

Description

Keckiella breviflora is a branching, bushy shrub with many thin stems, approaching a maximum height near two meters.

Its shiny green leaves are arranged oppositely on the branches, and each is one to four centimeters long, generally lance-shaped and finely serrated or smooth along the edges.

The shrub produces tall inflorescences which are loose, glandular spikes of flowers. Each flower is one to two centimeters wide with five pale pink or pinkish-streaked white lobes whose external surfaces have long, shiny hairs. The three lower lobes curl outward from the mouth and under, and the two upper lobes are joined into a lip that curves forward over the mouth. Within the mouth are long stamen filaments bearing anthers, and a flat, hairless, sterile stamen called a staminode.

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment of Keckiella breviflora
• USDA Plants Profile for Keckiella breviflora
• Keckiella breviflora — UC Photos gallery