Florida Flora Friday: Manyflower Beardtongue (Penstemon multiflorus)

Welcome back to FFF! This time, we're talking about Manyflower Beardtongue (Penstemon multiflorus). Ki's a striking native Florida wildflower (and part of the plantain family!) that can add height and beauty to any pollinator garden, meadow, or front/back yard. Ki is virtually endemic to Florida, although there are small populations in Georgia and Alabama.

Manyflower Beardtongue can get up to three feet tall and wide. It spreads by seed, but also by producing pups beside the base, although spread is relatively slow. Each stalk supports multiple flowers (thus the multiflorus moniker), which can be white to lavender. Ki does die back in winter and may have few or no basal leaves when dormant, which makes it look dead. However, ki is a long-lived perennial and will come back year after year. Manyflower Beardtongue loves well-drained soil.

In addition to adding height, structure, and beauty to your yarden, Manyflower Beardtongue is also a pollinator favorite. Ki attracts lots of native bees, as well as butterflies, and even hummingbirds, and is also the larval host for the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly. 

Some Penstemon species (there are many in North America, particularly in Western states) were used as medicinal plants by Indigenous Peoples. The root was used to treat toothaches and the leaves could be used to make poultices for wounds. There's little information about Penstemon multiflorus specifically being used in this way, however. If anyone knows of anything definitive, I'd love to hear it :)

Want more? Check out the entries from the Florida Wildflower Foundation and the Florida Native Plant Society.