Index / Search / Penstemon digitalis
§1 Plant
Penstemon digitalis Nutt. ex Sims
vernacular foxglove beardtongue — species · Scrophulariaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Scrophulariaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Penstemon
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Introduced
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 1 county across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 110 min.
- Precipitation
- 30–55 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.5–7
- Root depth
- 8 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 4 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Red
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Purple
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 400,000
- Propagation
- seed, container, sprigs
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/PEDI ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/8251158 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z