plant ID question
 

Hi,

I saw a plant at a canyon park in San Diego that I can't seem ID with
any of the resources I have.. it had very irregular looking flowers,
consisting of four upper fingers that were almost completely fused and
a single lower finger. They were much longer than they were wide.
There were five stamens (IIRC... it could have been seven) arranged in
an arc above the stigma. The stigma itself sort of looked like a green
cap. Some of the flowers were white and some of them were
orange/yellow. Flower size was probably about 2 inches in the vertical
direction. The plant itself was a large shrub (at least 3 ft tall and
spread over a few feet) that had small shiny leaves.

If anyone has any ideas (even just what families this could have been
in), I would appreciate it.. unfortunately I don't have a photo.

Thanks,
Karl

plant ID question
 

Try the genus Penstemon first, the family Scrophulariaceae (in the old
"broad" sense). There are a *large* number of species in Southern California
so you may have difficulty naming it to species.

Scott

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Hi,

I saw a plant at a canyon park in San Diego that I can't seem ID with
any of the resources I have.. it had very irregular looking flowers,
consisting of four upper fingers that were almost completely fused and
a single lower finger. They were much longer than they were wide.
There were five stamens (IIRC... it could have been seven) arranged in
an arc above the stigma. The stigma itself sort of looked like a green
cap. Some of the flowers were white and some of them were
orange/yellow. Flower size was probably about 2 inches in the vertical
direction. The plant itself was a large shrub (at least 3 ft tall and
spread over a few feet) that had small shiny leaves.

If anyone has any ideas (even just what families this could have been
in), I would appreciate it.. unfortunately I don't have a photo.

Thanks,
Karl

plant ID question
 

This is a perfect description of a honeysuckle--Lonicera.
Unfortunately, many of the species now found in the U.S. are invasive
exotics. You should try to pin the plant down as to species, as park
staff may want to eradicate it if it's not native.

M. Reed.

wrote:
Hi,

I saw a plant at a canyon park in San Diego that I can't seem ID with
any of the resources I have.. it had very irregular looking flowers,
consisting of four upper fingers that were almost completely fused and
a single lower finger. They were much longer than they were wide.
There were five stamens (IIRC... it could have been seven) arranged in
an arc above the stigma. The stigma itself sort of looked like a green
cap. Some of the flowers were white and some of them were
orange/yellow. Flower size was probably about 2 inches in the vertical
direction. The plant itself was a large shrub (at least 3 ft tall and
spread over a few feet) that had small shiny leaves.

If anyone has any ideas (even just what families this could have been
in), I would appreciate it.. unfortunately I don't have a photo.

Thanks,
Karl