Castilleja cryptantha |
Castilleja uliginosa |
|
---|---|---|
Mt. Rainier or obscure paintbrush, obscure Indian paintbrush, obscure paintbrush |
Pitkin Marsh Indian paintbrush, Pitkin Marsh paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, (0.8–)1–1.9 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 3–5 dm; from a woody caudex; rhizomatous. |
Stems | few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones. |
several, decumbent proximally and sometimes becoming weakly rhizomatous, becoming ascending to erect, unbranched or often branched proximally, hairs spreading, short and long, soft, mixed eglandular and stipitate-glandular. |
Leaves | green, often with brown or purple veins, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 1.5–4 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, ± involute, 0–3-lobed, apex acute to acuminate; lobes spreading-ascending, narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to ± obtuse. |
green, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 3–5 cm, much reduced distally, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat, 0-lobed, apex acute to rounded. |
Inflorescences | (2.5–)3–6 × 1–2 cm; green to dull brown or dull reddish purple throughout, or proximally green to dull brown or dull reddish purple, distally yellow on apices, broadly lanceolate to ovate, (0–)3-lobed; lobes ascending, narrowly lanceolate, long or short, arising near mid length, apex acute or acuminate. |
10–30 × 3–4 cm; bracts pale yellow to cream throughout, or proximally pale greenish near base, distally pale yellow to cream, broadly lanceolate, 3-lobed; lobes ascending, narrowly lanceolate, long, arising near mid length, apex narrowly acute or acuminate. |
Corollas | straight, 14–16 mm; tube 11–14 mm; whole corolla included within calyx; beak adaxially pale yellow, 1–2 mm; abaxial lip deep green, slightly inflated, 4–5 mm, 67% as long as beak; teeth ascending, pale, 1.5–2 mm. |
slightly curved, 22–30 mm; tube 11–15 mm; beak partly exserted, adaxially whitish, yellowish, or greenish, 10–15 mm; abaxial lip green, small, protuberant, 3 mm, ca. 20% as long as beak; teeth erect to incurved, green, to 1 mm. |
Calyces | proximally green or pale with green veins, lobes yellow, sometimes becoming deep red with age, 12–15 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 3–7 mm, 25–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–3(–4) mm, 8–20% of calyx length; lobes triangular, adaxial segments longer than abaxials, apex acute or obtuse. |
colored as bracts, 20–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–14 mm, ca. 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 5–6 mm, ca. 33% of calyx length; lobes linear, apex acute, ciliate. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Castilleja cryptantha |
Castilleja uliginosa |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Mesic to moist flat subalpine meadows and turf, to tree line. | Margins of wet meadows, marshes, and wet thickets. |
Elevation | 1500–2000 m. (4900–6600 ft.) | 40–60 m. (100–200 ft.) |
Distribution |
WA
|
CA |
Discussion | Castilleja cryptantha is endemic to the vicinity of Mt. Rainier in the Cascade Range, with most populations found within Mt. Rainier National Park. Unlike most species of Castilleja, it is apparently self-pollinating (W. J. Duffield 1972); the small flowers are entirely enclosed within the yellowish calyces, which tend to grow deep reddish as they age. The purplish brown bracts are also unusual in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja uliginosa is endemic to Pitkin Marsh in Sonoma County. It differs from C. miniata by its uniformly pale yellow inflorescences and pubescent stems, as well as by its disjunct, low-elevation habitat. Much of its available habitat was destroyed by development, and it is apparently now extirpated from the wild. It survives in the form of tissue clones from the last wild plant, backcrossed with C. miniata by L. R. Heckard in the 1980s and maintained since then in the greenhouses at the University of California at Berkeley. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 600. | FNA vol. 17, p. 662. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Pennell & G. N. Jones: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 50: 208. (1937) | Eastwood: Leafl. W. Bot. 3: 117. (1942) |
Web links |