Castilleja elata |
Castilleja litoralis |
|
---|---|---|
Siskiyou Indian paintbrush, Siskiyou paintbrush, slender paintbrush |
coast paintbrush, Oregon coast paintbrush, Pacific paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.9–6.2 dm; from a remote woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1–9 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
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 many, usually decumbent proximally, becoming ascending-erect, sometimes ascending, branched, sometimes with small, leafy axillary shoots, glabrate or ± pubescent distally, hairs sparse to moderately dense, spreading to ± appressed, short, soft, sometimes mixed with short-glandular ones below 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. |
green, lanceolate to oblong or narrowly ovate, (0.5–)3–8 cm, sometimes thickened, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to rounded; lobes ascending or spreading, linear, narrowly lanceolate to oblong or triangular, short, apex acute to obtuse. |
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. |
2.5–21 × 3–5 cm; bracts proximally green, distally bright red to crimson or orange-red, sometimes orange or pale yellow-orange, oblong to narrowly ovate or narrowly obovate, (0–)3–5-lobed, sometimes with a pair of small teeth; lobes ascending, linear to oblong, medium length, arising in middle 1/3, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded or truncate, lateral ones ± acute. |
Pedicels | 0–6 mm. |
|
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 or slightly curved, 23–38(–40) mm; tube 10–20 mm; abaxial lip often visible through front cleft, very rarely almost exserted, beak exserted; beak adaxially green or yellowish, 10–16 mm, surface inconspicuously puberulent; abaxial lip ascending, green, reduced, 1–2.5 mm, 10–20% as long as beak; teeth erect or incurved, green or white, 1–2 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. |
colored as bracts, 17–25(–30) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (5–)7–15(–18) mm, 33–55% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–3(–5) mm, 5–10% of calyx length; lobes broadly triangular to oblong, apex obtuse to acute or rounded. |
2n | = 24. |
= 120, 144. |
Castilleja elata |
Castilleja litoralis |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering (Apr–)May–Aug(–Sep). |
Habitat | Serpentine bogs and wetlands. | Steep rocky slopes, headlands, ledges, sea cliffs, coastal scrub, dune swales, roadcuts. |
Elevation | 50–1900 m. (200–6200 ft.) | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
|
CA; OR; WA
|
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 litoralis never ranges more than one to two kilometers from the sea, from Humboldt County, California, north to Pacific County, Washington, near the mouth of the Columbia River. It is a high polyploid complex, possibly incorporating the genomes of several species, including C. affinis, C. miniata, and possibly C. hispida. The coastal C. miniata var. dixonii is very similar ecologically and morphologically but replaces C. litoralis from southwestern Washington to southern British Columbia. Compared to C. litoralis, C. miniata var. dixonii usually has somewhat longer corollas and corolla beaks, the latter with a more conspicuously puberulent surface and deeper lateral calyx clefts. Castilleja litoralis has been included as a subspecies of C. affinis by some (for example, M. Wetherwax et al. 2012), but the morphological resemblance to that species is far more tenuous than it is to C. miniata var. dixonii. Considering their very similar morphologies, along with the fact that both C. litoralis (2n = 120, 144) and C. miniata var. dixonii (2n = 96, 144) apparently combine multiple genomes, strongly suggest that they would best be treated as a single entity. Should they be combined at the species level following additional research, the name C. dixonii has priority. Castilleja litoralis is often associated with salal, Gaultheria shallon, on which it is likely parasitic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 604. | FNA vol. 17, p. 624. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. miniata subsp. elata | C. affinis subsp. litoralis, C. wightii subsp. litoralis |
Name authority | Piper: Smithsonian Misc. Collect. 50: 201. (1907) | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 183. (1947) |
Web links |
|