Castilleja disticha |
Castilleja cusickii |
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wavyleaf Indian paintbrush |
Cusick's Indian paintbrush, Cusick's paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.4–8 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, (1–)1.5–5(–6) dm; from a small, woody caudex; with a taproot or stout, branched roots. |
Stems | many, erect, unbranched or branched, sometimes with small, leafy axillary branches, hairs spreading, long, soft, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones. |
solitary or few to several, erect, often decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter, sometimes stiff, stipitate-glandular ones. |
Leaves | green or purple-tinged, lanceolate to linear-oblong, 0.8–6.1 cm, not fleshy, margins wavy, involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex rounded to acute; lobes spreading-ascending, narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate. |
green, sometimes with prominent red-purple veins, lanceolate-linear to broadly lanceolate, 2.5–4.5(–7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, (0–)3–5(–9)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes spreading-ascending, narrowly lanceolate, arising at or above mid length, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 3–34 × 1.5–3.5 cm; flowers usually distichous, remote, except distalmost; bracts proximally greenish, distally greenish, reddish, orange-red, or dull orange, rarely yellow, proximal bracts frequently greenish throughout, lanceolate to narrowly ovate or narrowly oblong-elliptic, 0(–3)-lobed, proximal wavy-margined; lobes ascending, triangular, short, arising near apex, apex acute to obtuse. |
3.5–26 × 1.5–3.5 cm; bracts pale green, pale greenish yellow, or pale yellow throughout, or proximally pale green, pale greenish yellow, pale yellow, or reddish purple, distally white, yellow, pink, dull purple, or dull reddish purple, sometimes with a purple band below that, sometimes with veins darker than background color, lanceolate to oblong, 0–5(–9)-lobed; lobes ascending or spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, often short, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
Corollas | ± curved, 25–38 mm; tube 14–18 mm; beak and often abaxial lip exserted; beak adaxially dull orange or dull red, rarely yellow, 14–19 mm; abaxial lip slightly curved, green, red, whitish, or yellow, not inflated, 2–2.5 mm, 15% as long as beak; teeth incurved, deep green to reddish, 1–1.5 mm. |
straight, 19–25(–28) mm; tube (13–)15–20 mm; abaxial lip included, beak not or slightly exserted; beak adaxially green to yellow-green, 4–7 mm; abaxial lip yellow, prominent, inflated, 2–4.5 mm, ca. 75% as long as beak; teeth incurved to erect, white, 1.3–2.1 mm. |
Calyces | proximally whitish, green, or purple, distally colored as bracts, 9–18 mm; abaxial clefts 6–6.5 mm, adaxial 7–9 mm, clefts 33+% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.5–4 mm, ca. 10% of calyx length; lobes linear-lanceolate, apex acute. |
green, pale green, or pale yellow, lobes yellow to pale yellow, 20–30 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6.6–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–4(–4.5) mm, 0–15% of calyx length; lobes broadly rounded to triangular, apex obtuse to rounded. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Castilleja disticha |
Castilleja cusickii |
|
Phenology | Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Open conifer forests, rocky or sandy slopes, montane to subalpine. | Moist meadows, swales, grasslands in sagebrush steppes, occasionally to subalpine. |
Elevation | 1600–3000 m. (5200–9800 ft.) | 500–2500 m. (1600–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
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ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC
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Discussion | Castilleja disticha is limited to the central and southern Sierra Nevada. Although similar to C. applegatei and C. martini, C. disticha is distinctive and unique in its long, colorful, and highly exserted corollas with the beak exceeding the tube in length, calyces more brightly colored than the often unlobed bracts, and tall, strongly distichous growth form. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja cusickii includes two morphologically distinct variants. One variant has a wider inflorescence, broader bracts, and wider bract lobes. These bracts often have highly contrasting purple veins, and some populations also have a purplish wash on the bracts. These plants have a range on the western edge of typical C. cusickii, though overlapping with more typical forms in western Idaho and adjacent northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The name C. lutea is available for these variants, and both consistent morphological differences and preliminary results from ongoing genetic research on the plants (D. C. Tank, pers. comm.) indicate its resurrection may be justified. A second variant is distinguished by a pale pink-purple wash on the bracts and a narrow distribution in the meadows of the Bear River Valley, bordering northwestern Utah and adjacent southeastern Idaho. Only bract coloration appears to distinguish this form from typical C. cusickii, and the distinctive bract coloration is only more or less consistent in these populations. Typical Castilleja cusickii appears to hybridize with C. gracillima in the Logan Valley, Grant County, Oregon. It is also reported by M. Ownbey (1959) to hybridize with C. miniata and C. rhexiifolia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 603. | FNA vol. 17, p. 600. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. applegatei subsp. disticha | C. lutea |
Name authority | Eastwood: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 3, 2: 289. (1902) — (as Castilleia) | Greenman: Bot. Gaz. 25: 267. (1898) — (as Castilleia) |
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