List of Penstemon species
Penstemon, commonly called penstemons or beardtongues, is a large group of flowering plants. Because some subgroups are taxonomically uncertain, the species are listed in alphabetical order.
Key facts (as of 2024):
- POWO (Plants of the World Online) lists 281 species and seven natural hybrids.
- WFO (World Flora Online) treats all POWO-listed species as valid and adds two of the natural hybrids as species plus four extra species as valid.
For the most part, both WFO and POWO agree on the 281 species, with one exception: Penstemon grandiflorus is treated as a synonym of Penstemon bradburyi in both databases. In North America, however, P. grandiflorus is still widely used and appears as its own species in sources like Flora of North America and the USDA PLANTS database.
Many Penstemon species have common names such as bush penstemon, gilia beardtongue, sanddune beardtongue, beardlip penstemon, and several others.
Hybrids: POWO recognizes seven natural hybrids as valid. World Flora Online treats two of these hybrids as species and accepts four additional species that POWO does not. Additionally, four species are listed by WFO as accepted but not by POWO.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 00:32 (CET).