Castilleja campestris
Castilleja ornata
field owl's-clover, meadow paintbrush, vernal pool Indian paintbrush, yellow owl's clover
glowing Indian paintbrush, ornate paintbrush
solitary or few, erect, unbranched, sometimes branched, glabrous or hairs sparse proximally, spreading, long, soft distally.
solitary or few to several, erect or ascending, often branched low on stem, unbranched distally, hairs appressed or retrorse, medium length, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.
green, sometimes purple-tinged, linear to narrowly lanceolate, (0.4–)1–4 cm, not fleshy, thin and flexible or thick and ± brittle, margins plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acuminate.
green or purple-tinged, proximal forming a rosette, linear-lanceolate to oblong or oblanceolate, 2–4 cm, not fleshy, clasping, margins wavy, sometimes plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse.
2–15 × 2–3 cm;
bracts green throughout, sometimes purplish tinged, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0-lobed, apex acute.
3–24 × 1.5–3 cm;
bracts proximally green, distally white, sometimes very pale yellow, often aging dull pink or dull red-purple, spatulate, 0-lobed, sometimes seeming lobed due to wavy margins, apex obtuse to rounded.
straight, 11–26 mm;
tube 10–22 mm;
abaxial lip, beak, and part of tube exserted from calyx;
beak adaxially white or yellow, 3–6 mm;
abaxial lip yellow, sometimes orange, paler near teeth, prominent, deeply saccate with 3 lobes at ca. 90° from one another, pouches 6–10 mm wide, 3–4 mm deep, abruptly widening from tube, sacs ± round or ± rounded-triangular from above, villous within at base of teeth, 4–5 mm (2–4 mm from sinus), 70–90% as long as beak, puberulent;
teeth erect, white, sometimes with deeply colored bases, 0.5–2 mm.
slightly curved, 22–24 mm;
tube 10–13 mm;
beak exserted, adaxially green, 5–10 mm;
abaxial lip pale greenish, reduced, pouches 3, 0.5–1.5 mm, 5–10% as long as beak;
teeth slightly incurved, reduced, pale greenish to white, 0.3–0.7 mm.
proximally green, pale, or purplish, distally purple or green, 5.5–11 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 2–5 mm, 30–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.5–2.5 mm, 25–30% of calyx length;
lobes linear-lanceolate to narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate.
green throughout or distal margin white aging pink, 15–17 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–14 mm, 35–45% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0(–0.7) mm, 0(–5)% of calyx length;
lobes short-triangular, abaxial segments longer than adaxials, apex acute to obtuse or rounded.
= 24.
= 24.
Castilleja campestris
Castilleja ornata
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Castilleja campestris is sometimes confused with Triphysaria eriantha subsp. eriantha, but C. campestris has two-celled anthers and entire leaves, while T. eriantha has one pollen sac per stamen and strongly divided leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Castilleja ornata is known from Chihuahua and northern Durango, Mexico, but much of its seasonally moist grassland habitat is now altered by grazing or agriculture, and there are no recent sightings of the species south of the United States border. There is a recently discovered population in southwestern New Mexico, in the southern Animas Valley of Hidalgo County. While very rare, C. ornata lacks federal protection. The small Animas Valley population is the last known extant occurrence, and this population was reduced to two individuals in a census conducted in 2017 (D. Roth, pers. comm.). The species appears to be critically endangered globally and in need of conservation management.
The inflorescences of Castilleja ornata have pale greenish bracts with white apices when young, but the apices often become pale pink to dull reddish with age. Its pubescence, wavy-margined leaves, and unusual bract color also distinguish C. ornata. Castilleja exserta and C. minor are the only other annual paintbrushes in New Mexico and differ from C. ornata by the color of their floral bract apices, which are usually pink to red-purple in C. exserta and bright red in C. minor.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaves and bracts linear; leaves thin, flexible; bracts shorter than or ± equal to flowers; corollas light to bright yellow; proximal pollen sacs to 1/3 length of distal. | var. campestris |
1. Leaves and bracts lanceolate; leaves thick, ± brittle; bracts longer than flowers; corollas usually yellow to orange; proximal pollen sacs ca. 1/2 length of distal. | var. succulenta |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
