Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja mexicana |
|
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desert paintbrush |
Mexican Indian paintbrush, Mexican paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, sometimes subshrubs, perennial, 1.5–3.5(–4.5) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, annual or short-lived perennial, 0.6–3 dm; from a woody caudex; with a slender taproot. |
Stems | several to many, ascending to erect, often grayish, unbranched, rarely branched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary branches, hairs spreading-erect, long, stiff, eglandular, sometimes also with shorter, stipitate-glandular ones. |
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. |
Leaves | gray-green, linear, lanceolate, or oblanceolate, sometimes broadly lanceolate, (1.5–)2.5–6(–7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed, sometimes with secondary lobes, apex acuminate to obtuse; lobes spreading, linear, apex acuminate. |
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. |
Inflorescences | 2.5–15 (much longer in fruit) × 1.5–5.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish to dull purplish, distally bright red to scarlet or orange-red, rarely yellowish to dull orange or pink, narrowly to broadly linear or lanceolate, narrowly ovate, or oblong-lanceolate, (0–)3–7-lobed, rarely with secondary lobes; lobes spreading, linear to oblong, sometimes oblanceolate, often expanded near tip, long, proximal lobes arising below mid length, apex rounded or obtuse to sometimes acute. |
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. |
Corollas | straight or ± curved, 18–35(–40) mm; tube 8–15 mm; beak short- or long-exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green, (9–)10–18 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, thickened, included to exserted, 2–3 mm, ca. 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, deep 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. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, sometimes with broad yellow band below colored lobe apices, (17–)20–27 mm; abaxial clefts 4–10 mm, adaxial 6–12 mm, abaxial ca. 30% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–4 mm, ca. 15% of calyx length; lobes oblong or ovate to narrowly triangular or lanceolate, 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. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja mexicana |
|
Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Aug(–Nov). | Flowering Feb–Oct. |
Habitat | Dry sagebrush slopes and flats, pinyon-juniper stands, blackbrush, open yellow pine forests. | Dry rocky slopes, grasslands, pinyon-juniper stands. |
Elevation | 500–3200 m. (1600–10500 ft.) | 1200–2100 m. (3900–6900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY
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TX; Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Zacatecas)
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Discussion | Castilleja chromosa is sometimes confused with 3b. C. angustifolia var. dubia (see discussion there). Castilleja chromosa retains its distinctive morphology across its wide range and is a characteristic species of much of the southwestern United States. Where it overlaps with C. angustifolia, the two are distinguished by inflorescence color and width and by the lengths of the calyx, corolla, and corolla beak. In the broad region of their sympatry, there is little evidence of intergradation, except in a few sites in Elko County, Nevada, and in southern Wyoming. Throughout southern Idaho and northeastern Nevada the range of the two overlap with little or no intergradation. At high elevations in Montrose County, Colorado, C. chromosa has narrower leaves and a longer and silkier pubescence, especially in the inflorescence. Apparent hybrids between C. chromosa and C. flava var. rustica are known from Custer County, Idaho, and hybrids with C. linariifolia are known from Montrose County, Colorado. (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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 595. | FNA vol. 17, p. 626. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. ewanii, C. martini subsp. ewanii, C. martini var. ewanii | Orthocarpus mexicanus, C. tortifolia |
Name authority | A. Nelson: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 245. (1899) — (as Castilleia) | (Hemsley) A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 21: 404. (1886) — (as Castilleia) |
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