Castilleja brevilobata
Castilleja mexicana
short-lobed paintbrush
Mexican Indian paintbrush, Mexican paintbrush
solitary or few, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, short, medium, and long, soft, short and medium ones short stipitate-glandular.
solitary or few, erect to erect-ascending, sometimes slightly curved at base, branched at base or unbranched, hairs spreading, long, stiff to soft, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.
green or ± yellow, lanceolate, elliptic, or oblong to narrowly ovate, 1–2(–2.5) cm, not fleshy, margins plane or wavy, involute, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed, apex rounded to acute;
lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, apex rounded to acute.
brown or purplish, sometimes green, linear to narrowly oblong, 1–5 cm, not fleshy, margins wavy, mostly involute, to flat, 3–5-lobed, apex acute;
lobes spreading, linear, apex acute to obtuse.
3–20 × 2–3.5 cm;
bracts proximally greenish to dull brown, distally red, orange-red, or scarlet, sometimes orange or yellow, broadly lanceolate or oblong, (0–)3–5-lobed;
lobes ascending, broadly to narrowly lanceolate, short, arising above mid length, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded.
2–17 × 1.5–6.5 cm;
bracts greenish throughout, narrowly lanceolate (ovate in outline), 3–5(–7)-lobed;
lobes spreading, linear to narrowly oblong, long, arising from 1/3–2/3 blade length, wavy-margined, apex rounded or obtuse to acute.
straight, 15–24(–26) mm;
tube 12–16 mm;
beak exserted, abaxial lip equal to calyx;
beak adaxially green or ± yellow-green, 7–10 mm, puberulent, stipitate-glandular;
abaxial lip deep green, reduced, rounded, 1–2 mm, 10–25% as long as beak;
teeth incurved to erect, light green, 0.5–1 mm.
straight proximally, conspicuously decurved distally, 35–60 mm;
tube 26–46 mm;
abaxial lip, beak, and majority of tube exserted;
beak yellow to yellowish green, sometimes purplish tipped or drying pinkish, 9–15 mm;
abaxial lip light yellow to whitish, prominent, not inflated, 4–8 mm, 50–75% as long as beak;
teeth spreading-ascending, yellowish, 3–6 mm.
green or whitish with green veins, lobes colored as bract lobes or paler, 14–30 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 5.5–8.5 mm, 30–40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.5–4 mm, 20–25% of calyx length;
lobes oblong to narrowly triangular, apex obtuse to rounded.
proximally brownish green, purplish, or green, lobes tipped with same color as bracts, 18–28 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.5–6 mm, 8–20% of calyx length;
lobes lanceolate to narrowly triangular, abaxials wider than adaxials, apex acute.
= 24.
= 24.
Castilleja brevilobata
Castilleja mexicana
Castilleja brevilobata is endemic to dry serpentine openings in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon and adjacent California. Although sometimes treated as part of C. applegatei or C. hispida, its morphology does not suggest a close connection with either. This species occasionally hybridizes with C. pruinosa in Del Norte County, California.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Castilleja mexicana occurs in the northern third of Mexico and reaches the flora area only in southwestern Texas. Its conspicuous corollas can be either yellow or, less commonly, white. In both cases, the flowers turn soft pink-purple with age. Texas populations of this species are yellow flowered, and the white-flowered morph appears to occur only in northeastern Mexico. There is some indication of additional morphological differences between these color morphs that may justify varietal segregation. Castilleja mexicana is sometimes confused with the closely related C. sessiliflora, due to their conspicuous, distally curved, usually strongly exserted corollas, but the two species remain distinct.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
