Castilleja elata |
Castilleja aquariensis |
|
---|---|---|
Siskiyou Indian paintbrush, Siskiyou paintbrush, slender paintbrush |
Aquarius paintbrush, Aquarius Plateau Indian paintbrush, Aquarius Plateau paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.9–6.2 dm; from a remote woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1.1–3.9 dm; from a woody caudex; with numerous, thickened roots. |
Stems | solitary, sometimes few, proximally creeping, becoming rhizomatous, distally ascending to erect, unbranched or branched, glabrous proximally, glabrate distally, hairs ascending, medium length, soft, eglandular. |
few to several, ascending to erect, unbranched, hairs moderately dense, often retrorse, short, ± stiff, stipitate-glandular distally only in inflorescence. |
Leaves | widely spaced on stem, green, linear to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 1.3–7.2 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, ± revolute, 0-lobed, apex broadly acute to acuminate, distalmost sometimes obtuse. |
appressed-ascending, green to purplish, linear to narrowly lanceolate, distal sometimes broadly lanceolate, (1–)2.5–4(–5.5) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0(–5)-lobed, apex rounded to acuminate; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 2–13.5 × 1.5–4.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, rarely pink, distally pink, magenta, or purple, sometimes distally buff, dull yellow, cream, or light yellow-orange, ovate to elliptic or lanceolate, 0–5-lobed, sometimes also with 3 small teeth on center lobe; lobes ascending or ± spreading, narrowly lanceolate to oblong, medium length, arising near or above mid length, apex acuminate to acute, sometimes obtuse. |
2–7 × 1.5–2 cm; bracts proximally pale green to pale yellow-green, distally pale to bright yellow or cream, rarely pale orange, elliptic, narrowly ovate, elliptic-oblong, broadly lanceolate, or ovate, (0–)3(–5)-lobed; lobes ascending or spreading, narrowly lanceolate, short, arising near tip on distal bracts, central lobe apex rounded to truncate, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
Corollas | straight, 15–25 mm; tube 7–12 mm; beak and abaxial lip exserted above calyx lobes or ± pendently exserted from abaxial calyx cleft; beak adaxially green to yellowish, 6–11 mm; abaxial lip white to green, reduced, inconspicuous, pouches 3, small, 0.5–1.5 mm, 10–15% as long as beak; teeth ascending, white to deep green, 0.5–1 mm. |
straight, 17–25 mm; tube 9–13 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 6–8(–12) mm, margins red or reddish brown, short-hairy; abaxial lip green, reduced, sometimes exserted, 1.5–2 mm, 10–15% as long as beak, glabrous; teeth erect, green, 0.5–1.5 mm. |
Calyces | whitish, green, or pink, pale colored ones tending to age pink, lobes as in bracts, 9–17 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 4.5–8 mm, 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–3 mm, 17–22% of calyx length; lobes linear to oblanceolate, apex acute. |
proximally green to yellowish, distal 1/2 yellow, (16–)18–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (8–)9.5–12.5 mm, 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–5(–6) mm, 5–20% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate to ovate, apex acute to obtuse. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Castilleja elata |
Castilleja aquariensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Serpentine bogs and wetlands. | Meadows with sagebrush, openings in spruce-fir forests. |
Elevation | 50–1900 m. (200–6200 ft.) | 2900–3400 m. (9500–11200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
|
UT
|
Discussion | Castilleja elata is endemic to the Siskiyou Mountains of northwestern California and adjacent Oregon. Although often treated as a subspecies of C. miniata, it differs from that species in its shorter corolla beaks and distinctive bimodal coloration, with some populations exclusively pale yellow to pale orange and others pink-purple to magenta, as well as its specialized habitat in serpentine wetlands, where it often grows alongside Darlingtonia californica. Castilleja miniata grows on more mesic to moderately xeric substrates in the general vicinity of C. elata but with no sign of intergradation between the two species. The origin and significance of the two discrete color forms of C. elata deserve further study. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja aquariensis is endemic to the Aquarius Plateau in the mountains of south-central Utah. Its meadow habitats were severely degraded by livestock grazing, and at one time the species was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. It is still a species of management concern. Castilleja aquariensis 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. 604. | FNA vol. 17, p. 589. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. miniata subsp. elata | |
Name authority | Piper: Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 50: 201. (1907) | N. H. Holmgren: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 100: 87, fig. 3. (1973) |
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