Keckiella corymbosa
Encyclopedia
Keckiella corymbosa is a species of flowering shrub
in the plantain family
known by the common name redwood penstemon, or redwood keckiella. It is endemic to California
, where it grows in the coastal mountain forests of the central and northern regions of the state. This is a narrow, erect keckiella, reaching up to about half a meter tall and less than a meter in width. Its spreading branches have oppositely-arranged pairs of narrowly oval-shaped leaves one to three centimeters long and with smooth or vaguely toothed edges. The plant produces inflorescence
s on hairy pedicel
s with many flowers. Each flower is tubular opening into a wide mouth with three narrow, pointed lower lobes and two upper lobes joined into a straight flap or curving lip. The flower is up to 4 centimeters wide and 3 long, and is bright red to orange red or deep pink. Inside the mouth are long filamentous stamen
s and one flat, yellow-hairy sterile stamen called a staminode
.
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
in the plantain family
Plantaginaceae
Plantaginaceae Juss. or plantain family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. The type genus is Plantago L..In older classifications it used to be the only family of the order Plantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, have...
known by the common name redwood penstemon, or redwood keckiella. It is endemic to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where it grows in the coastal mountain forests of the central and northern regions of the state. This is a narrow, erect keckiella, reaching up to about half a meter tall and less than a meter in width. Its spreading branches have oppositely-arranged pairs of narrowly oval-shaped leaves one to three centimeters long and with smooth or vaguely toothed edges. The plant produces inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s on hairy pedicel
Pedicel (botany)
A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....
s with many flowers. Each flower is tubular opening into a wide mouth with three narrow, pointed lower lobes and two upper lobes joined into a straight flap or curving lip. The flower is up to 4 centimeters wide and 3 long, and is bright red to orange red or deep pink. Inside the mouth are long filamentous stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s and one flat, yellow-hairy sterile stamen called a staminode
Staminode
In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen. This means that it does not produce pollen. Staminodes are frequently inconspicuous and stamen-like, usually occurring at the inner whorl of the flower, but are also sometimes long enough to protrude from the...
.