Beard Tongue (Penstemon spp.).
This a secondary selenium accumulator. It is a herbaceous perennial plant that is usually erect, but many are low and creeping. The leaves are opposite, with the upper ones sessile and often clasping. The inflorescence is a panicle of flowers ranging from blue to red in color. The flowers are showy with a tubular corolla whose upper lip is two-lobed, the lower lip three-lobed. There are four fertile stamens in two pairs with arched filaments. A fifth stamen, called a staminode, is represented by a conspicuous sterile filament attached to the upper side of the corolla. It is widened and bearded at the apex.
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