Index / Search / Penstemon speciosus

§1 Plant

Penstemon speciosus Douglas ex Lindl.

vernacular royal penstemon — species · Scrophulariaceae


USDA
PESP
GBIF
8276274
Rank
species
royal penstemon (Penstemon speciosus)
Platephotograph · Lars RosengreenCC BY-NC-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Perennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Scrophulariaceae Juss.
Genus
Penstemon
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 91 counties across 6 states/territories
Legend Native · 91 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Low
Fire
Medium
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-33 °F minimum
Frost-free days
110 min.
Precipitation
8–24 in/yr
pH range
6.4–8
Root depth
14 in min.
Fertility need
Low
Soil texture
coarse, medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Multiple Stem
Growth rate
Moderate
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
2.5 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Gray-Green
Porosity (summer)
Porous
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Blue
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Mid Summer
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
400,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Contracting Only
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 91 counties across 6 states/territories.

California view state ↗ 24 N
Idaho view state ↗ 14 N
Nevada view state ↗ 15 N
Oregon view state ↗ 20 N
Utah view state ↗ 4 N
Washington view state ↗ 14 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/PESP ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/8276274 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z