Foxglove Beard Tongue

Kendall County (IL) Forest Preserve District

Foxglove Beard Tongue (Foxglove Penstemon)
Penstemon digitalis [C-value 4]
Snapdragon family (Scrophulariaceae)
Blooms mid-May - June

The native Foxglove Beard Tongue is uncommon in our area. It prefers full or partial sun, average levels of moisture, and loamy soil. In the spring, one or more flowering stems emerge from the clustered purplish rosettes and grow to about 3' tall. The opposite leaves are hairless and lance-shaped. The white flowers occur in a panicle at the top of each flowering stem. They are tubular in shape and about 1" long, with the corolla divided into a lower lip with 3 lobes, and and an upper lip with 2 lobes. Fine lines of violet within the corolla serve as nectar guides to visiting insects. Foxglove Beard Tongue is very much like Smooth Beard Tongue but blooms much earlier.

Foxglove Beard Tongue at Richard Young Forest Preserve (prairie) June 18, 2013

Foxglove Beard Tongue foliage at Baker Woods Forest Preserve June 6, 2014

Foxglove Beard Tongue (emerging purplish rosette) at Baker Woods Forest Preserve April 21, 2014

Foxglove Beard Tongue at Jay Woods Forest Preserve (prairie) June 9, 2015

Foxglove Beard Tongue at Richard Young Forest Preserve (prairie) June 18, 2013

Foxglove Beard Tongue (fall seed capsules) at Hoover Forest Preserve October 29, 2014

Some Native American tribes used penstemons as medicinal remedies for humans and animals. The root was chewed to treat tooth ache and leaves were applied as a wet compress to rattlesnake bites. But eating sufficient quantities of this plant can stop one's heart. Plants of the European genus Digitalis purpurea are the pharmaceutical source of the heart drug Digitalis. Reminder: see our Do Not Disturb Notice.

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