Penstemon californicus
species of plant
Penstemon californicus is a species of penstemon known by the common name California penstemon. It is native to the Mexican state of Baja California but is also found in a few places in the American state of California. It grows in the forest and woodland habitat of the Peninsular Ranges and nearby slopes.
Description
Penstemon californicus is a perennial species that typically grows 8–30 centimeters in height, but may occasionally be stunted to as little as 5 cm. The stems are herbaceous, but grow from a woody base. Stems either grow straight upwards or outwards for a short distance before growing upwards (ascending) and are covered in white scale-like hairs that point backwards.
The leaves are no more than 16 millimeters long, but may be as short as 8 mm. They range from 1.5–2.5 mm wide with a very narrow lance head shape, wider past the midpoint (oblanceolate )with a tapered base attached by a petiole and a central vein that protrudes at the end of the leaf tip (mucronate). The leaf is covered in white hairs that scale shaped, pressed close to the leaf surface, and point backwards. This makes the leaves ashy or pale in color and have smooth edges without teeth or lobes.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Penstemon californicus” as species of plant. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as species of plant. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7164840. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Penstemon californicus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.