General:
Low-shrubby perennial herb, woody at the base, with or without a taproot; stems branched, creeping, forming rather loose mats; flowering shoots 5-15 cm tall, spreading-hairy.

Leaves:
Opposite, evergreen, smooth, primary leaves short-stalked, thick and firm, the blades broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, entire or remotely toothed, 1-2.5 cm long, rounded to blunt-tipped; leaves of the flowering shoots few, unstalked or nearly so, egg-shaped, similar to the primary leaves but less crowded, usually at least 1 cm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a compact, terminal raceme of 2 to 4 pairs of stalked flowers, the stalks glandular-hairy; corollas light purple to deep lavender, tubular, 2.5-4 cm long, distinctly 2-lipped, smooth on the outside, white-hairy within on the lower lip near its base and on a pair of ridges; calyces 8-15 mm long, minutely sticky-hairy, 5-lobed, the lobes lance-linear to narrowly oblong; fertile stamens 4, the anthers densely white-woolly; sterile stamen shorter than the fertile stamens, long yellow-bearded for much of its length.

Fruits:
Capsules, 8-11 mm long; seeds numerous, angled, narrowly winged, 2-2.5 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Penstemon davidsonii var. ellipticus (J.M. Coult. & Fisher) B. Boivin