Low herbs; almost all annuals. Leaves.—Mainly alternate; sessile; often cut into from three to five filiform divisions; the upper passing into the bracts of the dense spike and usually colored, as are the calyx-lobes. Calyx.—Short-tubular or oblong-campanulate; evenly four-cleft, or sometimes cleft before and behind and the divisions again cleft. Corolla.—Tubular; the upper lip, or galea, little or not at all longer than the lower; small in comparison with the large, inflated, one- to three-saccate lower one, which usually bears more or less conspicuous teeth. Stamens.—Four; inclosed in the upper lip. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long. Stigma capitate. Fruit.—A capsule.
The genus Orthocarpus is mainly Californian, comprising within our borders something less than twenty species. Most of them are to be found from San Francisco northward and in the mountains.
They are closely related to the Castilleias, and resemble them closely in habit. The difference between the two genera lies in the relative sizes of the upper and lower lips of the corolla. In Castilleia the upper lip is the larger and more prominent; while in Orthocarpus the lower is much more conspicuous, often consisting of three inflated sacs.
The species are quite difficult of determination.
"Owl's clover" is a common English name for the plants of this genus.
Pentstemon, Mitchell. Figwort Family.
Perennial herbs, or rarely shrubby. Leaves.—Opposite, rarely whorled; the upper sessile or clasping; the floral gradually or abruptly reduced to bracts. Flowers.—Usually red, blue, purple, or white, rarely yellow; in raceme-like panicles. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—With a conspicuous and mostly elongated or ventricose tube; the throat swelling out on the lower if on either side; the limb more or less bilabiate, with the upper lip two-lobed and the lower three-cleft, recurved, or spreading. Stamens.—Four perfect; a fifth with a bearded filament only. Anther cells mostly united or running together at the summit. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long. Stigma entire.
The name Pentstemon is from two Greek words, signifying five and stamen. It was bestowed upon this genus because the fifth stamen is present, though sterile.
The genus is a large one, comprising seventy species, most of which are North American, though a few are Mexican. It is most abundantly represented in the Pacific States and the States west of the Mississippi. California has over twenty species, many of them very beautiful, a number of them being in cultivation.
"Beard-tongue" is the common English name for the plants of this genus.