Castilleja cinerea |
Castilleja chlorotica |
|
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ash-gray Indian paintbrush, ash-gray paintbrush |
green tinged paintbrush, green-tinged or Gearheart Mountain paintbrush, greentinge Indian paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–3 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–3.1 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | several to many, erect to ascending, or decumbent, inflorescence erect in high-elevation form, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs dense, spreading, ashy gray, short and long, soft, mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones. |
several to many, erect to ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched near base, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with dense, short stipitate-glandular ones. |
Leaves | green, brown, purple, or deep gray, linear or narrowly to broadly lanceolate to sometimes ovate, 0.7–3 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, slightly involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending to spreading, linear to lanceolate, apex acuminate. |
green, narrowly to broadly lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 9–35 cm, not fleshy, margins wavy, involute, 0(–3)-lobed, distal sometimes 3-lobed, apex narrowly acuminate; lobes ascending or spreading, linear to lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse. |
Inflorescences | 1–8.5 × 2–5 cm; bracts proximally greenish or deep reddish purple, distally burnt orange, sometimes yellow or deep red to deep burgundy, proximal sometimes lanceolate with narrow lobes, distal or all bracts broadly lanceolate to oblong or slightly oblanceolate, (0–)3–5-lobed, appearing dusty with dense, short stipitate-glandular hairs, many with a nodulose to pillarlike, crystallized, usually pigmented exudate, papillose at 40x; lobes ascending-spreading, oblong or oblanceolate, short, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded, often expanded, rounded, or truncate, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
3–9(–18) × 2–3 cm; bracts green to pale green to rarely dull purplish brown throughout, distally rarely with pale yellow apices, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic to sometimes broadly lanceolate, 3-lobed, wavy-margined; lobes spreading or ascending, narrowly lanceolate, medium length, arising at or above mid length, sometimes wavy-margined, apex obtuse to acute. |
Corollas | straight, 12–18 mm; tube 9–14 mm; beak included or tip just barely exserted, adaxially green or pale yellow to deep burgundy, 3–5 mm; abaxial lip green, burgundy, or reddish purple (in high-elevation form), little inflated, small, included, 2 mm, to 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, 0.2–0.5 mm. |
conspicuously decurved distally, 18–22 mm; tube 11–14 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green or yellow, 6–8 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, fleshy, included, 1.5–2 mm, 25% as long as beak, sparsely hairy, hairs spreading; teeth ascending, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, sometimes whitish proximally, 1.5–20 mm (shorter in upper elevation form); abaxial and adaxial clefts 3.5–8 mm, 30–50% of calyx length, all 4 clefts subequal; lobes linear to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, apex obtuse to rounded, densely stipitate-glandular. |
green or yellowish green, 15–19 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 9–11 mm, 60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 3.5–7 mm, 15–25% of calyx length; lobes broadly or narrowly triangular, taller than wide, apex acute to obtuse. |
Castilleja cinerea |
Castilleja chlorotica |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug(–Oct). | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Dry rocky slopes, ridges, and flats, pebble plains, sagebrush openings, open conifer forests. | Dry open pine forests, often with sagebrush understory, rocky ridges and summits, montane to subalpine. |
Elevation | 1800–3100 m. (5900–10200 ft.) | 2000–2500 m. (6600–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
|
OR |
Discussion | Castilleja cinerea is endemic to the higher elevations of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County. Most plants are upright to ascending and have yellow to yellow-orange inflorescences, with occasional plants ranging to dull red, especially with age. On Sugarloaf Mountain, mostly above 2700 m, is a distinctive form with consistently reddish purple to burgundy inflorescences and a strongly decumbent growth form. Castilleja cinerea is most often associated with and likely parasitic on Artemisia nova and Eriogonum species. Castilleja cinerea is known from few populations and is threatened by livestock grazing, development, and vehicle use. It is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. The crystalline exudate associated with the stipitate-glandular pubescence of the distal portion of the bracts is unique in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja chlorotica is an uncommon to rare endemic on dry slopes in Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and possibly Crook counties in central Oregon. The hooked corolla beak and greenish bracts, often aging purplish distally, help distinguish it from similar species such as C. glandulifera and yellow forms of C. applegatei var. pinetorum. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 597. | FNA vol. 17, p. 594. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Orthocarpus cinereus | |
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 93. (1883) — (as Castilleia) | Piper: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 33: 104. (1920) |
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