Castilleja brevilobata |
Castilleja elegans |
|
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short-lobed paintbrush |
elegant Indian paintbrush, elegant paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–5 dm; from a branched, woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–3 dm; from a woody caudex; with a slender taproot. |
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 several, ascending to erect, or slightly decumbent at base, unbranched, hairy, sometimes glabrate near base, hairs erect-ascending, whitish or yellowish, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones, especially distally. |
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 to sometimes purple-tinged, lanceolate to narrowly oblong, (1.2–)2–6(–9) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to ± involute, 0-lobed, sometimes 3-lobed distally, immediately below inflorescence, apex acuminate to caudate; lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, lateral lobes narrower than central, apex acuminate. |
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. |
1.5–9 × 1.5–3 cm; bracts purple to pink-purple or reddish purple throughout, sometimes proximally purple to pink-purple or reddish purple, distally whitish or pale pink, oblong to lanceolate or narrowly ovate, (0–)3–7-lobed; lobes spreading-ascending, linear-lanceolate, narrow, short or long, arising near or above mid length, center lobe apex rounded to sometimes acute, lateral ones acute. |
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, 18–28 mm; tube 17–20 mm; abaxial lip generally visible between calyx lobes, sometimes exserted above them, beak exserted; beak adaxially green, yellowish green, or purplish green, 4–8 mm; abaxial lip purple or magenta, medium sized, often visible through or above abaxial cleft, pouches 3, slightly inflated, 3–5.5 mm, 50+% as long as beak; teeth ascending, purple or magenta, 1–1.5 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. |
yellow to yellow-green, rarely purplish to dull red throughout, 19–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 10–17 mm, 60–70% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (2–)5–8 mm, 20–25% of calyx length; lobes narrowly oblong to lanceolate, apex rounded or obtuse, sometimes acute. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Castilleja brevilobata |
Castilleja elegans |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Dry savannas, rocky slopes and open conifer forests, on serpentine. | Meadows, tundra, fell fields, moraines, talus, rocky slopes, shrub thickets, gravel bars, lakeshores. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. [700–5600 ft.] | 0–2000 m. [0–6600 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; OR
|
AK; MB; NT; NU; QC; YT; e Asia (Russian Far East)
|
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 elegans is a characteristic species of the arctic and arctic-alpine regions. Its eastern and western limits are poorly understood, due to confusion with the similar species C. raupii to the east and south, and with C. rubra (Drobow) Rebristaya in eastern Asia. All three are part of a morphologically variable complex of recently evolved and poorly differentiated entities informally known as the C. pallida complex, after the first-described member of the group. Some reports of C. elegans in eastern Canada are here referred to C. septentrionalis. A recent collection of C. elegans from the northern Canadian Rocky Mountains is apparently disjunct, though it may also suggest its wider presence in Alberta. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 591. | FNA vol. 17, p. 604. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. hispida subsp. brevilobata | C. pallida subsp. elegans |
Name authority | Piper: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 33: 104. (1920) | Malte: Rhodora 36: 187. (1934) |
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