Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja puberula |
|
---|---|---|
desert paintbrush |
alpine paintbrush, short-flower paintbrush, shortflower Indian paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, sometimes subshrubs, perennial, 1.5–3.5(–4.5) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–1.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a 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. |
few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs retrorse, short, soft, eglandular. |
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 to purple, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2–3.3 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending-spreading to widely spreading, narrowly linear, apex acute. |
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. |
4–5 × 1.5–2.5 cm; bracts greenish throughout, or proximally greenish, distally bright yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-orange on apices, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 0–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading, filiform to linear, long, proximal lobes arising in proximal 1/2, apex acute to acuminate. |
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 or slightly curved, 18–21 mm; tube 13–15 mm; beak exserted, adaxially yellow to yellow-green, 6–8 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, visible in front cleft, slightly pouched, 2.5–3.5 mm, 35–60% as long as beak; teeth erect, yellow, 1 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. |
light green to yellowish, margins sometimes yellow, 10–17 mm; abaxial clefts 8–9 mm, adaxial 2–3 mm, abaxial ca. 50% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 20% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.9–2.5 mm, 12–20% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja puberula |
|
Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Aug(–Nov). | Flowering (Feb–)Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Dry sagebrush slopes and flats, pinyon-juniper stands, blackbrush, open yellow pine forests. | Moist meadows, stream banks, mesic rocky slopes, tundra, subalpine and alpine. |
Elevation | 500–3200 m. (1600–10500 ft.) | 2700–3900 m. (8900–12800 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WY
|
CO; MT
|
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 puberula is a near-endemic of alpine communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Larimer, and Park counties. A highly disjunct population occurs near the summit of Mt. Jefferson on the Continental Divide in Beaverhead County, Montana. Castilleja puberula appears to be a high-elevation isolate from the widespread C. flava, which is common at lower elevations in the Intermountain Region. A single case of hybridization with C. septentrionalis is known from Clear Creek County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 595. | FNA vol. 17, p. 648. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. ewanii, C. martini subsp. ewanii, C. martini var. ewanii | |
Name authority | A. Nelson: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 245. (1899) — (as Castilleia) | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 31: 644. (1905) |
Web links |