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attenuate paintbrush, valley-tassels

Castilleja rupicola

cliff paintbrush

Habit Slender annual 1-3.5 dm. tall, the stem usually simple, the herbage with short, stiff spreading hairs throughout. Perennial, the stems clustered, erect or ascending from a woody base, unbranched, 1-2 dm. tall.
Leaves

Leaves alternate, all cauline, narrowly lance-linear, long-tapered to the base, 2-6 cm. long, entire or the upper 3-cleft.

Leaves alternate, finely villous, deeply divided into 3-5 divergent lobes, the lateral segments not much narrower than the mid-blade.

Flowers

Inflorescence elongate and narrow, the bracts becoming shorter and more cleft than the leaves, white or yellowish;

calyx equally lobed;

corolla 1-2.5 cm. long, linear, whitish to pinkish, the lower lip more yellowish with some purple spots;

teeth of the lower lip erect, slender, nearly equaling the galea

Inflorescence showy, short and few-flowered, bright scarlet or crimson;

bracts villous, 5-parted, much shorter than the flowers;

calyx 15-25 mm. long, deeply cleft above and below, its primary lobes again divided into 2 segments 1-5 mm. long;

corolla 25-35 mm. long, the upper lip equal or longer than the tube and many times longer than the dark green, thickened, lower lip;

stamens 4.

Fruits

Capsule.

Capsule.

Castilleja attenuata

Castilleja rupicola

Flowering time April-June June-August
Habitat Drier areas at low elevations. Rock crevices and rocky slopes, usually above timberline.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California and Arizona.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Chiefly west of the Cascades in Washington; from southern British Columbia to central Oregon.
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
C. ambigua, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. hispida, C. levisecta, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. miniata, C. minor, C. parviflora, C. rupicola, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. victoriae
C. ambigua, C. attenuata, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. hispida, C. levisecta, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. miniata, C. minor, C. parviflora, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. victoriae
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