Castilleja brevilobata |
Castilleja rigida |
|
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short-lobed paintbrush |
rigid Indian paintbrush, rigid paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–5 dm; from a branched, woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 1.4–7.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a strongly woody taproot or branched, woody roots. |
Stems | solitary or few, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, short, medium, and long, soft, short and medium ones short stipitate-glandular. |
few to many, erect to basally ascending, sometimes with subtle, curvy zigzags, unbranched, sometimes branched, proximally or with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs loosely spreading, long, soft, ± wavy, eglandular and shorter stipitate-glandular. |
Leaves | 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. |
green, linear-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, 2–5.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acute, distalmost obtuse to rounded. |
Inflorescences | 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. |
2–7.5 × 2–3.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally abruptly rose red, bright red, or red-orange, narrowly to broadly oblong-obovate to obovate or ovate-elliptic, 0-lobed; apex rounded to obtuse. |
Corollas | 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 or slightly curved, (24–)28–36(–42) mm; tube 15–22 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green, (8–)10–14 mm; abaxial lip dark green, reduced, 0.5–1.5 mm, 7–12% as long as beak; teeth reduced, green to yellowish green, 0.5–1.5 mm. |
Calyces | 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. |
colored as bracts, sometimes with a yellow central band, 20–32(–36) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (5–)7–14 mm, ca. 40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–0.5 mm, 0–7% of calyx length; lobes poorly developed, if present, rounded, apex rounded to truncate, sometimes emarginate. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Castilleja brevilobata |
Castilleja rigida |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Jul(–Nov). |
Habitat | Dry savannas, rocky slopes and open conifer forests, on serpentine. | Desert scrub, rocky slopes, ledges, ridges, flats, swales, roadsides, commonly with Agave lechuguilla. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) | 300–1500 m. (1000–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
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TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Zacatecas)
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Discussion | 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 rigida is endemic to desert scrub on limestone deposits in the Chihuahuan Desert region and the adjacent western edge of the Edwards Plateau. It is almost always closely associated with, and most likely parasitic on, Agave lechuguilla. The majority of its range is in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, east of the Sierra Madre Occidental, as well as in Coahuila and Nuevo León, where it is a characteristic component of the regional flora, but also extends into a few counties in southwestern Texas. It is sometimes confused with the similar species, C. nervata, which is widespread in the sierras of western Mexico and is known from a single extant population in the western Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Castilleja nervata and C. rigida are largely parapatric in Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 591. | FNA vol. 17, p. 651. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. hispida subsp. brevilobata | C. latebracteata |
Name authority | Piper: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 33: 104. (1920) | Eastwood: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 44: 575. (1909) |
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