This native perennial with its smooth, waxy, bluish-green stem and leaves grows from 2-3 feet tall. Opposite, clasping leaves are 1-4 inches long with smooth margins (A,C). Evenly spaced clusters of tubular 1 1/2 Inch flowers arise just above a pair of leaf-like bracts. The flower consists of 5 fused petals which flare at the end into a 2-lobed upper and 3-lobed lower lip (B). Color varies from pale pink or blue (C) to a deep purple with darker nectar lines (B). Like other penstemons, this species has four curved, pollen-bearing stamens which lie just below the upper lip and a single sterile fringed stamen lying along the top of the lower lip (B), the origin of the common name “beardtongue.” The golden-yellow, fringed tip is fairly inconspicuous in this species. The stem, bearing rounded seed capsules with pointed tips (D), often persists through the winter (E).