Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja minor |
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desert paintbrush |
annual paintbrush, California threadtorch, lesser Indian paintbrush, little paintbrush, seep paintbrush, thread-torch 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, 2–10(–15) dm; with a short taproot or small, fibrous root system. | ||||||||||||
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, unbranched, rarely branched distally, hairs sparse to dense, spreading, sometimes shaggy (var. minor), short to long, soft to stiff, eglandular and/or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular. |
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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. |
green or purple to ± gray, linear to lanceolate, 2–10 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, ± involute, 0-lobed, apex acuminate to acute, sometimes obtuse. |
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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. |
5–40 × 1–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally red, red-orange, or pale orange, rarely yellow, on apices, narrowly lanceolate, sometimes narrowly oblong to spatulate distally, 0-lobed, plane-margined, apex acuminate (oblong to narrowly spatulate in var. spiralis). |
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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, 13–39 mm; tube 11–16(–20) mm; beak partially to completely exserted, sometimes included, adaxially yellow, pale orange to red-orange, reddish brown, green, or white, 5–15(–20) mm; abaxial lip yellow, white, red, deep red, red-violet, or green, colored as or strongly contrasting with rest of corolla, small but jutting out at 90° from axis of corolla, often readily visible through abaxial cleft, 1–3 mm, 5–25% as long as beak; teeth spreading to strongly incurved, green, white, yellow, red, or red-purple, 0.2–1 mm. |
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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. |
green or yellowish green, 13–27(–28) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–15 mm, 33–75% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–4 mm, 5–20% of calyx length; lobes linear to narrowly triangular or narrowly lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate. |
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2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
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Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja minor |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Aug(–Nov). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry sagebrush slopes and flats, pinyon-juniper stands, blackbrush, open yellow pine forests. | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 500–3200 m. (1600–10500 ft.) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; nw Mexico
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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.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Castilleja minor is a widespread specialist of seeps, saline shores, and wet ground at moderate elevations. California has many populations on serpentine substrates. Most of the varieties have distinct ranges with little overlap, with the exception of the edaphic obligate var. spiralis, which is restricted to serpentine substrates. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 595. | FNA vol. 17, p. 630. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||
Synonyms | C. ewanii, C. martini subsp. ewanii, C. martini var. ewanii | C. affinis var. minor | ||||||||||||
Name authority | A. Nelson: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 245. (1899) — (as Castilleia) | (A. Gray) A. Gray: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 573. (1876) — (as Castilleia) | ||||||||||||
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