Castilleja crista-galli |
Castilleja sessiliflora |
|
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cock's-comb paintbrush, mountainside Indian paintbrush |
downy paintedcup, Great Plains Indian paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1–4 dm; from a branching, woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairy, sometimes glabrate proximally, hairs spreading to retrorse, medium length to long, soft, eglandular, often mixed distally with shorter stipitate-glandular ones. |
few to many, ascending to erect, often decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, sometimes matted, short to medium length, ± soft, eglandular, often with a layer of minute-glandular hairs, sometimes woolly. |
Leaves | green, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2–8 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0–5-lobed, apex acute; lateral lobes spreading, linear, apex acuminate. |
green to purple, or grayish with dust and hairs, linear to narrowly lanceolate, (1–)2–5(–6) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, (0–)3–5-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes divergent, spreading, linear, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 3–6(–11) × 1.5–6.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally red, red-orange, or orange, sometimes yellow or dull salmon, narrowly to broadly lanceolate or oblong, 3–5-lobed; lobes ascending-spreading, linear-lanceolate, long, arising below mid length, central lobe apex rounded to obtuse, lateral ones acute. |
3–18 × 2.5–6.5 cm; bracts green to purplish throughout, sometimes reddish brown, pink, or lavender throughout, or distally white or pale yellow, sometimes distally dull pink, pink, salmon, orangish, pale pink-orange, buff, or cream, lanceolate, similar to distal leaves, 3(–5)-lobed; lobes spreading, linear-lanceolate, long, arising at or below mid length, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse. |
Corollas | straight, (25–)30–40(–45) mm; tube 15–20 mm; abaxial lip visible through front cleft, beak long-exserted from calyx; beak adaxially green or yellow-green, 16–21 mm; abaxial lip proximally white or yellow-green, distally green, reduced, usually visible in front cleft, 3 mm, 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved to ascending, green, 1 mm. |
strongly curved distally, 35–55 mm; tube 24–45 mm; abaxial lip, beak, and distal portion of tube exserted; beak adaxially green, yellow, pinkish, purplish, or whitish, 9–15 mm; abaxial lip green, pale green, or purple, protruding, shelflike, 4–8 mm, 50–70% as long as beak; teeth spreading, white, pale yellow, pink, or purple, 3–4 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, (20–)25–35 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (6–)10–17 mm, 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (1–)3–6(–10) mm, 35% of calyx length; lobes slender, triangular, apex acute. |
colored as bracts, sometimes proximally white, 20–40 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 12–20 mm, 40–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 5–15 mm, 10–25% of calyx length; lobes linear, apex acute to acuminate. |
2n | = 96. |
= 24. |
Castilleja crista-galli |
Castilleja sessiliflora |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Aug(–Oct). |
Habitat | Rocky slopes, talus, ridges, dry to moist, open, conifer forests, montane meadows. | Dry mixed grass and shortgrass prairies, prairie sandhills, sandsage plains, sand prairies, rocky or sandy slopes, bluffs, open forests, or desert scrub, limestone, sandstone, gypsum, granite, other bedrock types. |
Elevation | 1500–2900 m. (4900–9500 ft.) | 0–2300 m. (0–7500 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; MT; WY
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AZ; CO; IA; IL; KS; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WI; WY; AB; MB; SK; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas)
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Discussion | Castilleja crista-galli is found in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana and northwestern Wyoming. The extent of its distribution into adjacent Idaho is unresolved, in part because it is frequently confused with either C. linariifolia or C. miniata. Castilleja crista-galli appears to be morphologically intermediate between them, leading to speculation that it might be an allopolyploid derivative. A DNA study (S. Matthews and M. Lavin 1998) showed little support for a hybrid origin. Castilleja crista-galli may be separated with some difficulty from the other two species by the presence of at least some short hairs on the stems and the frequently three- to five-parted leaves. Castilleja linariifolia and C. miniata both usually have subglabrous stems and entire leaves, sometimes three-parted distally, near the inflorescence. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja sessiliflora ranges across the Great Plains from southern Canada to northern Mexico, where it is apparently rare. In Texas and northern Mexico, its range overlaps with the similar C. mexicana. Most populations of C. sessiliflora, especially north of Texas, have white to pale yellow inflorescences; in southwestern Texas they are more variable in color, with pink-purple plants often predominating locally. Those plants with pink-purple inflorescences were named forma purpurina by F. W. Pennell. In the limestone deserts of southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, the inflorescences are often a pale pink-orange, but these are intermingled with more typical greenish white plants. Occasional hybrids between C. angustifolia var. dubia and C. sessiliflora are known from northeastern Wyoming. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 599. | FNA vol. 17, p. 657. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 355. (1900) | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 738. (1813) |
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