Red Beardtongue is a type of penstemon (Canon 30D)
The penstemons are in the Figwort or Snapdragon family, along with monkeyflowers, paintbrushes, owl-clover (the hyphen means it is not a real clover), bee plants, and snapdragons. These were first seen in 2007 by David along Rocky Ridge, to the west side of the middle saddle of the Ridge. This specimen was collected at the tip of Rocky Point on September 12, 2009. Bill has also noticed that these are not the same as the California fuchsia. While similar, with red tubular flowers growing on dry, rocky soil during hunting season, this is a bush (multiple branches) with woody stems, while the fuchsia is a single-stemmed, herbaceous annual. The leaves are also different, with 1/2 inch shiny green leaves for the beardtongue and silvery grey-green for the fuchsia.
En face view of the flower (Nikon Coolpix 7900)
Their flowers are identified by these characters:
References
The figwort diagram and some information if from: http://montana.plant-life.org/families/Scrophulariaceae.htm; copyright © Plant-Life.org; accessed on September 22, 2009.