chaparral beardtongue

Keckiella antirrhinoides is desert shrub that grows one half to two and a half meters tall, with spreading branches. The oppositely-arranged leaves are up to 2 centimeters long and are lance-shaped or narrow ovals. They are deciduous during dry periods. The plant produces branchlike inflorescences which bear snapdragon-like flowers. Each hairy, glandular flower is about 2 centimeters wide, with three lower lobes which lie flat or curve down and two upper lobes which join to form a curved lip. Inside the flower are shiny filamentous stamens holding anthers and a flat, densely hairy sterile stamen called a staminode. The flowers are light yellow and dry to nearly black.

Snapdragon penstemons are native to northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. In Mexico it is grows in both Baja California and in Sonora. In the US it is found in nine counties in the western two-thirds of Arizona, but just Clark County at the southern tip of Nevada.In California it is known from San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties in southern California.