Keckiella breviflora (formerly Penstemon breviflorus) is a species of flowering shrub in the veronica 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.
Taxonomy The botanist John Lindley published the description of a new species in the genus Penstemon in 1837 which he named Penstemon breviflorus. He described the species using a specimen he grew from seeds he took from a specimen collected by David Douglas in the Santa Lucia Range in modern day Monterey County. Lindley's classification remained in place for more than a century until the 1967 creation of the new genus Keckiella by Richard Myron Straw, where he placed the species with the name Keckiella breviflora. Together with its genus it is classified as part of the Plantaginaceae family and has two accepted varieties.
Keckiella breviflora var. breviflora Keckiella breviflora var. glabrisepala
Between the species and its two varieties it has ten synonyms, including four species names.
Table of Synonyms Name Year Rank Synonym of: Notes Keckia breviflora 1966 species K. breviflora ≡ hom. Keckia breviflora var. glabrisepala 1966 variety var. glabrisepala = het. Keckiella breviflora subsp. glabrisepala 1967 subspecies var. glabrisepala = het. Penstemon breviflorus 1837 species K. breviflora ≡ hom. Penstemon breviflorus var. canosobarbatus 1903 variety var. breviflora = het. Penstemon breviflorus var. carinatus 1903 variety var. breviflora = het. Penstemon breviflorus subsp. glabrisepalus 1936 subspecies var. glabrisepala = het. Penstemon breviflorus subsp. typicus 1936 subspecies K. breviflora ≡ hom., not validly publ. Penstemon canosobarbatus 1860 species var. breviflora = het. Penstemon carinatus 1855 species var. breviflora = het. Notes: ≡ homotypic synonym ; = heterotypic synonym
Names Keckiella breviflora is known by the common names gaping penstemon, small-flowered penstemon, and gaping beardtongue.
Range The majority of the gaping penstemon's range is in northern and central California, but it extends into the westernmost portions of Nevada. In California it grows in mountainous areas including the western Transverse Ranges, the southern Coast Ranges, and the Sierra Nevadas from the foothills to high ranges.
References Citations
Sources Books
Web sources
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment of Keckiella breviflora Keckiella breviflora — UC Photos gallery