Flower:

Three to 8 opposite pairs of flower clusters on erect to ascending stalks arising from leaf axils in the upper plant, with 2 to 8+ short-stalked flowers in each cluster. Flowers are white to pale pink or lavender, about ¾ inch (16 to 22 mm) long, tubular, the lower lip with 3 downward pointing lobes of similar size and shape, the upper lip erect and lobed in 2 parts somewhat smaller than the lower lobes. Inside the tube are several pinkish or purplish lines, 4 black-tipped stamens hugging the upper part of the tube, a white style, and a sterile stamen with sparse yellow hairs at the tip end.

The floral tube is abruptly inflated from the lower third. The calyx surrounding the flower is green and has 5 slightly spreading, narrowly egg-shaped to triangular lobes. Cluster stalks are about 1 inch long and green to reddish. The flower, calyx and flower stalks are all densely covered in glandular hairs.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are basal and opposite along the stem. Basal and lowest stem leaves are somewhat variable, 1 to 5 inches (2 to 12+ cm) long, stalked, variably toothed or toothless around the edges, spatula shaped to oblong-elliptic with a pointed to rounded tip. Stem leaves are up to 4 inches (10 cm) long and ¾ inch wide, becoming more lance-oblong, pointed at the tip, stalkless and clasping, the uppermost toothless or with minute, widely spaced teethed around the edge.

Upper surfaces are moderately to densely covered in soft hairs, the lower surface hairy especially along the midrib. Stems are erect, single or multiple from the base, and hairy but not glandular except in the flower clusters.

Fruit:

Fruit is a teardrop-shaped capsule about ¼ inch (5 to 7 mm) long.

Seeds are dark reddish brown to blackish, angular and irregularly shaped.

Notes:

Pale Beardtongue is considered historical in Minnesota, though the national map indicates it's adventive here; there have been only 3 records total from Lake and St. Louis counties, collected from roadsides in the 1950s. It is a Special Concern species in Wisconsin, with the closest population just across the Mississippi River from Houston County. Coincidentally, while exploring Vinegar Ridge in Houston County, we found what appears to be a natural population of Pale Beardtongue in an area that had been burned earlier in the year. Perhaps this species isn't historical after all...? The flowers are similar to other Penstemon species: White Penstemon (Penstemon albidis), Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis) and Slender Beardtongue (Penstemon gracilis), all of which have hairless (or nearly so) leaves and stems.