Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja rubicundula |
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desert paintbrush |
cream sacs |
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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, 0.6–6 dm; with a taproot or branched 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, erect, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, short, soft, often mixed with stipitate-glandular ones. |
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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 to purple-tinged or dark red-brown, linear-lanceolate or distal lanceolate, 2–8(–9) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat to slightly curved up, 0–7-lobed, apex acute to acuminate; lobes widely spreading or ascending-spreading, linear, apex acute. |
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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. |
2.5–24 × 3–4 cm; bracts green throughout, lanceolate to ovate, 5–9-lobed; lobes ascending, linear-lanceolate or lanceolate, medium length, arising near mid length, apex acute to acuminate. |
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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, (15–)20–28 mm; tube 8–24 mm; abaxial lip, beak, and proximal part of corolla tube exserted; beak adaxially white, rarely very pale yellow or pale pink-purple, 5–7 mm, inconspicuously puberulent; abaxial lip white, fading to pink to pink-purple, or yellow, fading to white, rarely then to pink or pink-purple, both forms often with purple or red dots at base, inflated, prominent, pouches 3, 8–10 mm wide, 4–6 mm deep, 4–6 mm, 80–100% as long as beak; teeth erect, white or yellow, 0.5 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, 8–14 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 3–6 mm, 30–50% of calyx length, all 4 clefts subequal; lobes linear, apex acuminate to acute. |
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Stigmas | ± exserted, as long as or slightly longer than beak and visible from abaxial side. |
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2n | = 24, 48. |
= 24. |
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Castilleja chromosa |
Castilleja rubicundula |
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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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CA; OR
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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 2 (2 in the flora). Castilleja rubicundula is separated into two varieties on the basis of flower color, as well as subtle differences in the pouching of the abaxial corolla lip. The ranges of the two varieties are broadly overlapping, but they never grow in the same location. Few intermediate forms have been recorded, though a very unusual population system exists in Santa Clara County, within which virtually all plants exhibit a tricolored corolla sequence, with yellow flowers aging to white and then pink or pink-purple, with all three colors visible on mature inflorescences. (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. 652. | ||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | C. ewanii, C. martini subsp. ewanii, C. martini var. ewanii | Orthocarpus rubicundulus | ||||
Name authority | A. Nelson: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 245. (1899) — (as Castilleia) | (Jepson) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 658. (1991) | ||||
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