☛Most members of this family are now placed in the Plantain Family (Plantaginaceae); we maintain the older distinction here because most of the commonly available references divide the families this way.
Moth Mullein (Verbascum
blattaria). These stately, slender perennials have lately
become favorites in the garden trade. In the wild, they grow white or
yellow flowers. The yellow flowers seem to be more common in most places,
but the white ones (var. albiflorum, according to Gray) are far
more common in Pittsburgh. The plants like to grow in a clear spot at the
edge of the woods.
Cymbalaria
Linaria
Dwarf Snapdragon (Chaenorhinum
minus). Tiny white snapdragon flowers with a racy purple
stripe on the top. The leaves and stems are covered with small hairs. Many
European imports will colonize sidewalk cracks and such unlikely
footholds; the Dwarf Snapdragon, however, seems to live nowhere else. It
resents competition, and looks for a home where nothing else will grow.
These were growing in gravel at the old Allegheny County Airport, where
they were blooming in late June.
Collinsia
Scrophularia
Chelone
Foxglove Beardtongue
(Penstemon digitalis). A relative of snapdragons and
Butter-and-Eggs, this cheery flower also bears a passing resemblance to a
foxglove, whence both the common and scientific names. The name
“Beardtongue” comes from the hairy stamen visible in each flower.
Mimulus
Gratiola
Lindernia
Veronicastrum
Common Speedwell (Veronica officinalis). If these
were larger, they might be treasured garden flowers. They are found
everywhere in our lawns, and they are small enough that it takes a good
close look to notice the delicate violet stripes on the flowers. The plant
is fuzzy, with oval leaves and rambling stems; it is short enough to pass
easily under lawn-mower blades. You can find it blooming from mid-spring
through summer
Persian Speedwell (Veronica persica).
One of our earliest and most beautiful spring flowers. It is so tiny and
so ubiquitous, however, that it passes unnoticed even when it lights up
our lawns with sky-blue flowers. The blooming period begins in March, or
even late February, and is generously long. Flowers blue; leaves roundish,
sessile near the top of the stem and on short petioles below, gently
toothed, somewhat hairy. The plant seldom exceeds the height of a few
inches, and can often pass unmolested under a lawnmower blade.
Gerardia
Castilleja
Pedicularis