Castilleja disticha |
Castilleja salsuginosa |
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wavyleaf Indian paintbrush |
Monte Neva Indian paintbrush, Monte Neva paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.4–8 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, (0.5–)0.8–1.4(–1.8) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot with yellow root hairs. |
Stems | many, erect, unbranched or branched, sometimes with small, leafy axillary branches, hairs spreading, long, soft, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones. |
several, erect, usually decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, short, rather stiff, some glandular. |
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. |
purplish brown with a grayish cast (due to adhering soil particles and salt crystals), linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–2.5(–3) cm, fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acute; lobes spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex obtuse. |
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. |
3–10 × 1.5–5 cm; bracts proximally purplish, deep burgundy, lavender, dull reddish, or deep purple, distally greenish, white, cream, or pink on margins and apices, oblong, 3(–5)-lobed; lobes ascending, ± linear, medium length, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded to obtuse, expanded distally, lateral ones acute. |
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 or slightly curved, 18–22(–24) mm; tube 13–18 mm; beak, sometimes abaxial lip, exserted; beak adaxially purplish brown, 4.5–6.5 mm, conspicuously exceeding abaxial lip, margins reddish or colored as bracts, apices white or cream; abaxial lip reddish purple with green in a distal band or along grooves, gradually inflated, grooved, (2–)3–4(–4.5) mm, 67% as long as beak; teeth erect to slightly spreading, white to cream, often with purple spot, 1.4–2(–2.5) 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. |
proximally whitish, distally purple to sometimes pink, margins white or cream, 16–20 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–8.5 mm, 20–45% of calyx length, all 4 clefts subequal; lobes linear or narrowly lanceolate, apex obtuse to rounded. |
Stigmas | blackish. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Castilleja disticha |
Castilleja salsuginosa |
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Phenology | Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering Jun–Jul. |
Habitat | Open conifer forests, rocky or sandy slopes, montane to subalpine. | Damp alkaline clay, hummocks, sparsely vegetated stream banks draining hot springs. |
Elevation | 1600–3000 m. (5200–9800 ft.) | 1800–2000 m. (5900–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
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NV |
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 salsuginosa is endemic to a single site in White Pine County, where it is limited to the harsh alkaline soils of travertine hot springs. This population is threatened by habitat degradation from livestock, as well as by water developments affecting the hydrology of the hot spring system. Castilleja salsuginosa is closely related to C. nana and C. pilosa, but genetic studies of the trio are inconclusive so far. Two populations of very similar but slightly smaller-flowered plants occur around other hot springs in adjacent Eureka County. While they resemble C. salsuginosa superficially, recent morphometric studies of one of these populations indicate that they may be worthy of nomenclatural recognition, separate from C. salsuginosa. Castilleja salsuginosa 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. 603. | FNA vol. 17, p. 654. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. applegatei subsp. disticha | |
Name authority | Eastwood: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., ser. 3, 2: 289. (1902) — (as Castilleia) | N. H. Holmgren: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 100: 83, fig. 1. (1973) |
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