This came from a local swap in April as a NOID. Now that it has bloomed, please help with an ID. Sorry about image quality - the macro setting is not working on my camera. Thanks.

My first thought was wild foxglove - digitalis, but might be turtlehead (chelone) instead.
Not sure, greene, but it is a pretty plant.

Sharon, I think you're on the right track. http://www.wildflower.org/gall...

Lovely plant, Greene.

Thanks, Chelle, for the link; the picture stirred my old memories but I don't seem to ever remember botanical names. Sure looks like wild foxglove though.

Possibly a variety of Physostegia (Obedient Plant)?

http://www.wildflower.org/gall...

http://garden.org/plants/searc...


https://www.google.com/search?...

Similar, but Jay, compare the edges of the foliage and see what you think.

Thanks. They all look so similar!
I'd better go out there tomorrow and get a better photo of the blooms and the leaves.
Wonder if it's too early to buy myself a new camera for Christmas?

Never to early!

If it is Obedient plant (Physostegia), it will have square stems, and leaves and stem will be hairless. Flowers do not need to be arranged in rows, as one sees in many photos.

Cannot be foxglove (Digitalis), which has alternate leaf arrangement. Your pic shows opposite leaf arrangement.

Pay particular attention to the calyx - the green part just behind the colored flower. ...not right for Turtlehead (Chelone), but could be Physostegia or penstemon.

If you look inside a penstemon flower, you will see the stamens (the stems that hold the pollen) following the inside surface of the flower in a circular fashion. No other flower that looks like this has this characteristic.

Examples of the penstemon stamens in Penstemon cobaea and Penstemon paysoniorum

Stamens, got it. Let me look that up! Here is something I learned from my S-I-L. Use a hand lens to get an extreme closeup. So probably not a penstemon. Does that leave only Physostegia?

greene said:Stamens, got it. Let me look that up! Here is something I learned from my S-I-L. Use a hand lens to get an extreme closeup. So probably not a penstemon. Does that leave only Physostegia?

I"m cracking myself up, with every picture I hear a roar! What a pretty monster

If it has square stems, we can be pretty sure it is Physostegia. Yours seems to be a wilder (or wild) form. Don't be alarmed that it doesn't look so much like the pics of cultivated Obedient plants. Take a look at the wildflower sites, too.
If not square stemmed, then back to the drawing board, and I don't have any other ideas.

greene said:

Sure looks like physostegia to me... square stem, jaged leaves.

Arlene, you made me look! Had to run out and see what the leaves of my Dragon's Head plant looked like.

(They're much more toothy than these, I think.)

Yippee and thanks to every one of you.
Golly gee this was fun!!!
Or @jvdubb should I say I had a roaring good time?
Yes, yes they have square stems.
So... unusually wild form of Physostegia then? Do we have it?
C'mon, please tell me if I can mark this solved.

Whatever it is, I find those closeup shots to be very interesting...'watercolor' effect.

Exactly, like a pale O'Keefe painting. I've been thinking the same thing.

I've been checking out 'hand lenses' online...

So....Mary, what did you do? Did you use a loupe? Have a camera to which you can attach a lens, or what? I would like to duplicate that effect without going into technical photography work....lol..

Thanks for any info.....

@wcgypsy - I just sent you a Tree-Mail.

Edited to add:
I wrote a short idea/article about the method:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/g...