Garden plant ID

[Maggi Young]

I may have asked this before - but if I did I have forgotten any answers   

This is a good garden plant here in Aberdeen . My friend has grown it for years - it makes a low hummock of shrubby evergreen  growth and flowers well from early May till about the end  of June.
About 20 to 25 cms high at most.
It has a look of a sturdy penstemon or a mazus about it.  The leaves  have an almost  "succulent" feel to them.

Leaves, toothed edges 75mm total length by 30mm wide
Flowers 40mm long , flattened lip 20mm.  no "beard" Around 8 to 10 flowers per stem.

Help please.

[ChrisB]

Could it be some sort of linearia?  Flower shape looks similar.

[Maggi Young]

I don't know of any evergreen shrubby Linaria.
This flower has no spur and the upper and lower lips are pretty much the same.

[Roma]

I'd say it was a shrubby Penstemon.  There are hybrids as well as species.  I seem to remember they tended to be short lived or if they did grow into big plants they were untidy and sprawling.  Fruticosus, scouleri and davidsonianum come to mind but there are others.  Does Robert Nold still frequent the forum?   I think he helped out some id's a while back.   

[ChrisB]

Could be a penstemon Roma....

[Lesley Cox]

I think it's a Penstemon, especially from the incipient seed pods as well as the flowers and I think there are species with foliage like that. It's such a vast genus. Maybe Anne in New York state would know for sure, or Lori. Really nice anyway.

[Lori S.]

No doubt at all to me that it's a penstemon.  I have keys and can try to suggest species later.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Lori, that would be great.

Character is of creeping, clumping shrubby habit. Leaves are, as I said, almost succulent, they are "lushly leathery" if you get my drift? (You can tell I have a great grasp of the technical jargon, can't you?    )  I am somewhat surprised by the lack of any beard in the flower - is that often the case with Penstemon?

[Geoforce]

 they are "lushly leathery" if you get my drift?

I believe the term is coriaceous Maggi.   

Geo

[David Nicholson]

A pure guess (and I never get any ID right) that might do until Lori is able to get back. Penstemon montanus var. montanus

[Maggi Young]

I believe the term is coriaceous Maggi.   

Geo

That would be the very  word, George, thanks!

[astragalus]

Definitely seems to be a penstemon, hope Lori can key it for you.

[Lori S.]

It would be lovely if Bob Nold would just pop in right about now and tell us what it is! 
Anyway, I will try to figure it out...

[Lori S.]

A pure guess (and I never get any ID right) that might do until Lori is able to get back. Penstemon montanus var. montanus

Well, it's often easier to say what it's not (which is still helpful)... The Lodewick key says P. montanus v. montanus has grey-green pubescent leaves.  Other subspecies may be glabrous, but the cyme is usually 2-5 flowered, and they are herbaceous, so apparently not P. montanus then.

[penstemon]

The leaves in P. montanus are glandular-pubescent, and these look glabrous. Leaves are on the flowering stalk and no basal rosette. Var. idahoensis leaves are glaucous.
So, this is probably a hybrid.


Bob