Castilleja citrina |
Castilleja aquariensis |
|
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lemon paintbrush |
Aquarius paintbrush, Aquarius Plateau Indian paintbrush, Aquarius Plateau paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.5–3.5 dm; from a slender, woody caudex; with a taproot or stout, branched roots. | Herbs, perennial, 1.1–3.9 dm; from a woody caudex; with numerous, thickened roots. |
Stems | few to many, erect to ascending, unbranched or branched, hairs appressed to ± ascending, matted, long, soft, mixed with short-glandular ones, denser distally, sometimes obscuring surface. |
few to several, ascending to erect, unbranched, hairs moderately dense, often retrorse, short, ± stiff, stipitate-glandular distally only in inflorescence. |
Leaves | green, sometimes brown, linear to linear-lanceolate, 3–7 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 3–7-lobed, apex acute to rounded; lateral lobes spreading, narrowly linear, apex acuminate. |
appressed-ascending, green to purplish, linear to narrowly lanceolate, distal sometimes broadly lanceolate, (1–)2.5–4(–5.5) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0(–5)-lobed, apex rounded to acuminate; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | (3.5–)8–20 × 2–5.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally bright yellow, sometimes pale yellow to pale orange, sometimes aging white to pink, narrowly to broadly lanceolate or oblong, 3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading to ascending, linear, long, arising at or below mid length, apex obtuse to rounded. |
2–7 × 1.5–2 cm; bracts proximally pale green to pale yellow-green, distally pale to bright yellow or cream, rarely pale orange, elliptic, narrowly ovate, elliptic-oblong, broadly lanceolate, or ovate, (0–)3(–5)-lobed; lobes ascending or spreading, narrowly lanceolate, short, arising near tip on distal bracts, central lobe apex rounded to truncate, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
Corollas | straight but curved at tip, 30–41 mm; tube 21–26 mm; beak slightly to long-exserted, adaxially green to yellowish, sometimes aging pinkish, 10–15 mm; abaxial lip white or yellow, sometimes partly green, darkening with age, only slightly inflated, exserted from abaxial cleft, 3–7 mm, ca. 50% as long as beak; teeth prominent, petaloid, spreading, yellow, 2.5–6 mm. |
straight, 17–25 mm; tube 9–13 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 6–8(–12) mm, margins red or reddish brown, short-hairy; abaxial lip green, reduced, sometimes exserted, 1.5–2 mm, 10–15% as long as beak, glabrous; teeth erect, green, 0.5–1.5 mm. |
Calyces | green, pale green, or whitish, lobes colored as bracts, 12–18 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 8–15 mm, 60–75% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2.5–3 mm, 20% of calyx length; lobes linear to very narrowly triangular (equilaterally triangular if very short), apex obtuse to rounded. |
proximally green to yellowish, distal 1/2 yellow, (16–)18–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (8–)9.5–12.5 mm, 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–5(–6) mm, 5–20% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate to ovate, apex acute to obtuse. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Castilleja citrina |
Castilleja aquariensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–May. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Calcareous prairies, sandy fields, gravelly limestone hillsides, limestone outcrops, mesquite, juniper, oak-juniper, and post oak woodlands, roadsides. | Meadows with sagebrush, openings in spruce-fir forests. |
Elevation | 300–800 m. (1000–2600 ft.) | 2900–3400 m. (9500–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
KS; OK; TX
|
UT
|
Discussion | Although the range of Castilleja citrina overlaps the range of its close relatives, C. lindheimeri and C. purpurea, in central Texas, C. citrina extends considerably farther to the west and northwest of the others (G. L. Nesom and J. M. Egger 2014). The inflorescences of C. citrina are mostly pale to bright lemon yellow or occasionally brassy yellow. The color and usually more elongate abaxial corolla lip separate it from C. lindheimeri and C. purpurea. Castilleja citrina is similar to some color forms of C. sessiliflora, but the more conspicuously curved corolla of C. sessiliflora is usually exserted far above the calyx and is often white to pale pink, rather than yellow. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja aquariensis is endemic to the Aquarius Plateau in the mountains of south-central Utah. Its meadow habitats were severely degraded by livestock grazing, and at one time the species was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. It is still a species of management concern. Castilleja aquariensis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 597. | FNA vol. 17, p. 589. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. purpurea var. citrina | |
Name authority | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 73: 532. (1922) | N. H. Holmgren: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 100: 87, fig. 3. (1973) |
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