Castilleja disticha
Castilleja rigida
wavyleaf Indian paintbrush
rigid Indian paintbrush, rigid paintbrush
many, erect, unbranched or branched, sometimes with small, leafy axillary branches, hairs spreading, long, soft, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.
few to many, erect to basally ascending, sometimes with subtle, curvy zigzags, unbranched, sometimes branched, proximally or with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs loosely spreading, long, soft, ± wavy, eglandular and shorter stipitate-glandular.
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, linear-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, 2–5.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acute, distalmost obtuse to rounded.
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.
2–7.5 × 2–3.5 cm;
bracts proximally greenish, distally abruptly rose red, bright red, or red-orange, narrowly to broadly oblong-obovate to obovate or ovate-elliptic, 0-lobed;
apex rounded to obtuse.
± 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 or slightly curved, (24–)28–36(–42) mm;
tube 15–22 mm;
beak exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green, (8–)10–14 mm;
abaxial lip dark green, reduced, 0.5–1.5 mm, 7–12% as long as beak;
teeth reduced, green to yellowish green, 0.5–1.5 mm.
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.
colored as bracts, sometimes with a yellow central band, 20–32(–36) mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts (5–)7–14 mm, ca. 40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–0.5 mm, 0–7% of calyx length;
lobes poorly developed, if present, rounded, apex rounded to truncate, sometimes emarginate.
= 24.
Castilleja disticha
Castilleja rigida
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 rigida is endemic to desert scrub on limestone deposits in the Chihuahuan Desert region and the adjacent western edge of the Edwards Plateau. It is almost always closely associated with, and most likely parasitic on, Agave lechuguilla. The majority of its range is in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, east of the Sierra Madre Occidental, as well as in Coahuila and Nuevo León, where it is a characteristic component of the regional flora, but also extends into a few counties in southwestern Texas. It is sometimes confused with the similar species, C. nervata, which is widespread in the sierras of western Mexico and is known from a single extant population in the western Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Castilleja nervata and C. rigida are largely parapatric in Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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