Beardlip Penstemon

Penstemon barbatus usually has stems that grow straight upwards, but sometimes they grow outwards from the base of the plant for a short distance before curving to grow upwards. It may be 30 to 100 centimeters (1.0 to 3.3 ft) tall. Plants may have just one flowering stem or many. Leaves on the plants may be smooth, partly, or uniformly puberulent, covered in hairs. At times they may be glabrous, hairless, on the upper side of the leaves while the undersides are puberulous. The basal leaves, leaves springing directly from the base of the plant, and those attached low on the stems range in size from 3–14 centimeters (1.2–5.5 in), though usually less than 8 cm (3.1 in). Their width ranges from as little as 6 millimeters to 35 mm, but usually between 12 and 30 mm. Their shape is oblanceolate, resembling a reversed spear head, with the base tapered and the widest part past the middle of the leaf, and are attached by petioles, leaf stems. The upper cauline leaves, those attached further up the stem, are narrowly lanceolate or linear, shaped like a thin spear head or long and narrow like a blade of grass. They measure between 28 and 142 mm (1.1 and 5.6 in) long and just 1 to 15 mm wide, usually less than 8 mm wide. …

Penstemon barbatus grows in the Four Corners states, Texas, and in much of Mexico. In Colorado it grows largely in southern mountain counties, only being found as far north as Garfield County. The native range of the species in Utah does not go so far north with it reaching to Wayne and San Juan counties. Only the southeastern quarter of New Mexico lacks reports of the species and it grows in much of Arizona. Most of the range of P. barbatus in Texas is in the counties in the Big Bend region and to the north in the state's far west. This species is very common in the northern parts of Mexico. In the northwest it grow in two of four states, Sinaloa and Sonora. While in the northeast it grows in every state including, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Tamaulipas. In the central highlands it grows in both Mexico City and the larger State of Mexico as well as the three other states of Morelos, Puebla, and Tlaxcala. It also grows in the gulf state of Veracruz. …

The Zuni people rub the chewed root of the torreyi subspecies over the rabbit stick to ensure success in the hunt.