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Pictured: Penstemon attenuatus — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Scrophulariaceae family

Sulphur Penstemon (var. attenuatus) Penstemon attenuatus var. attenuatus variety

Native Specialist-bee host

Sulphur Penstemon (var. attenuatus) is a perennial shrub native to the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 6 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~8 caterpillar species

Penstemon supports ~8 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus.

Recorded feeding on Penstemon in North America, including:

Caloptilia murtfeldtella · leaf-blotch miner moth Elaphria chalcedonia · Chalcedony Midget Endothenia hebesana · Verbena Bud Moth Euphydryas anicia · Anicia Checkerspot Euphydryas chalcedona · Variable Checkerspot Euphydryas editha · Bay Checkerspot
+ 8 more species →
Euphydryas phaeton · Baltimore Checkerspot Haploa confusa · Confused Haploa Moth Homoncocnemis picina · owlet moth Junonia coenia · Common Buckeye Leptarctia californiae · tiger moth Meris alticola · geometer (inchworm) moth Neoterpes graefiaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Oncocnemis saundersiana · owlet moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Penstemon is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[07] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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