''Penstemon cerrosensis'', also known as Cedros Island penstemon, is a species of flowering plant in the large ''

Penstemon ''Penstemon'' , the beardtongues, is a large genus of roughly 280 species of flowering plants native to North America from northern Canada to Central America. It is the largest genus of flowering plants endemic to North America. As well as bein ...

'' genus in the veronica family. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Cedros Island Cedros Island (''Isla de Cedros'', "island of cedars" in Spanish (language), Spanish) is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the state of Baja California, Mexico. The dry and rocky island had a population of 1,350 in 2005 and has an area o ...

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

Description

''Penstemon cerrosensis'' grows between 10 and 40 centimeters tall with stems that are quite woody near the base, but otherwise

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

. Stems branch near their bases, are hairless, and

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

; covered in natural waxes giving a grayish or bluish color. Most of it leaves are attached by petioles, though the uppermost ones are almost . They have smooth edges and are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate in shape, like a spear head or somewhat egg shaped. Like the stems they are hairless and glaucous. The ends of the leaves recurve back towards the plant and the tip is

mucronate The following terms are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade is divided into two or more leaflets) ...

, having the central leaf vein extended somewhat beyond the body of the leaf. The many flowers of the

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

are attached to the main stem by branched peduncles, flower stalks, with two or three flowers in a group. The funnel shaped fused flower petals reach 12–15 millimeters in length and are bright scarlet in color. They are mildly

ventricose Ventricose is an adjective describing the condition of a mushroom, gastropod or plant that it is "swollen, distended, or inflated especially on one side". Mycology In mycology, ventricose is a condition in which the cystidia, lamella or stipe ...

, inflated, on their undersides and curved upwards. The five lobes at the mouth of the flower are almost equal in size. The

staminode In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co ...

is also hairless and slightly expanded towards its end. It can bloom in March, April, May, or June.

Taxonomy

''Penstemon cerrosensis'' is classified in the ''

'' genus in family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

. It was given its first scientific description and name by

Albert Kellogg Albert Kellogg (December 6, 1813 – March 31, 1887 ) was an American physician and the first resident botanist of California. He was a founding member of the California Academy of Sciences and served as its first curator of botany. Kellogg was a ...

in 1863. The specimens that Kellogg used to describe the plants from the island were collected by

John Veatch John Allen Veatch (5 March 180824 April 1870), a surgeon, surveyor, and scientist, was known for his discovery of large deposits of borax at Tuscan Springs, California, on 8 January 1856. Biography Veatch moved with his family to Texas in 1834, ...

in 1858. At the time Cedros Island was incorrectly marked on English language maps as Cerros Island. Starting in 1888 a number of botanists including

Edward Lee Greene Edward Lee Greene (August 20, 1843–November 10, 1915) was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part ''Landmarks of Botanical History'' and the describing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American W ...

and Louis Krautter corrected this name as ''Penstemon cedrosensis'', but as Kellogg's spelling was intentional it is not subject to correction under botanical rules. Despite this notable botanists such as

Ira Loren Wiggins Ira Loren Wiggins (1 January 1899 – 28 November 1987) was an American botanist, Curator of the Dudley Herbarium, and Director of the Natural History Museum (1940–1962) at Stanford University. He was a Stanford faculty member from 1929 until ...

have used the name as recently as 1980. It has no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

, but it has two botanical synonyms.

Names

It is known in English as Cedros Island penstemon. When it was described by Kellogg in the ''Hesperian'' magazine in 1860 he bestowed the evocative name ''hummingbird's dinner horn''.

Range and habitat

Penstemon cerrosensis - Sula Vanderplank 02

The natural range of ''Penstemon cerrosensis'' is restricted to

Isla Cedros Cedros Island (''Isla de Cedros'', "island of cedars" in Spanish) is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the state of Baja California, Mexico. The dry and rocky island had a population of 1,350 in 2005 and has an area of which includes t ...

in the Pacific Ocean just off the west coast of the Baja California peninsula. Plants grow on rocky slopes and on cliff faces on the island. It can be found from elevations of . It is part of the canyon slope scrub community on the island, which is dominated by shrubs like redberry buckthorn ('' Rhamnus crocea'' ssp. ''insula''), Cedros Island sage ('' Salvia cedrosensis''), and Baja desert-thorn ('' Lycium brevipes'').

Ecology

Its bright red flowers are pollinated by

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

Uses

This penstemon is not in cultivation.

References

Sources

;Books * * * ;Journals * * * * ;Magazines * ;Web sources * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q110605965 cerrosensis Flora of Baja California