The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

harsh Indian paintbrush, harsh paintbrush, hispid or harsh or bristly paintbrush

Photo is of parent taxon

harsh Indian paintbrush, harsh paintbrush

Habit Herbs, perennial, 1.3–5(–6) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot.
Stems

few to many, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes with inconspicuous, short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading to erect, long, soft to stiff, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.

Leaves

green, sometimes purple-tinged, margins sometimes red-brown, linear or narrowly to broadly lanceolate to narrowly oblong, oblanceolate, or ovate, 1–8.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane or wavy, involute or flat, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed, apex acute to rounded or acuminate;

lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, much narrower than mid blade, apex acute to rounded.

linear or lanceolate to narrowly oblong or ovate, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed, apex rounded to acute.

Bracts

distally red of various shades or yellow, sometimes orange or burnt orange, older bracts sometimes aging orange to yellow on plants with red bracts;

lobes linear to oblong, medium length, apex rounded, sometimes truncate or acute.

Inflorescences

3–16(–30 in fruit) × 2–5 cm;

bracts proximally greenish to dull reddish purple, distally red to orange or yellow, sometimes crimson, scarlet, orange-red, red-orange, or burnt orange, often becoming paler and/or duller with age, lanceolate to oblong, ovate, or obovate, 3–5(–11)-lobed;

lobes spreading to ascending, linear to oblong or narrowly lanceolate, medium length or long, arising at or above mid length, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded or truncate, sometimes emarginate, truncate, or acute, lateral ones acute to obtuse.

Corollas

slightly curved, 17–38 mm;

tube 12–18 mm;

beak exserted, adaxially green, sometimes yellowish, rarely red-brown, 9–20 mm;

abaxial lip ascending, deep green, reduced, curved, 0.5–3 mm, to 10–33% length of beak;

teeth incurved, reduced, green, 0.5–1.2 mm.

17–38 mm;

abaxial lip 0.5–1.5 mm, to 10–20% length of beak.

Calyces

colored as bracts, sometimes with a yellow band proximal to red to orange apices, or ca. 1/2 yellowish and 1/2 reddish, 12–35 mm;

abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–12 mm, 33–65% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–7 mm, 15–30% of calyx length;

lobes triangular, linear, or oblong to lanceolate, apex acute or obtuse to rounded.

12–35 mm;

lateral clefts 2–7 mm;

lobes oblong to lanceolate, apex obtuse to rounded.

2n

= 24, 48, 96.

= 24, 48.

Castilleja hispida

Castilleja hispida var. hispida

Phenology Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Aug.
Habitat Grassy or rocky slopes, coastal bluffs, dry prairies or open forests, valleys, montane, occasionally to subalpine.
Elevation 0–2100 m. (0–6900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Castilleja hispida is likely related to C. chromosa, which replaces it geographically to the southeast.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Variety hispida is fairly common in the lowlands and islands of western Washington, northwestern Oregon, and southwestern British Columbia, and it extends into the montane and subalpine zones of the Cascade Range and Olympic Mountains. It also ranges eastward sporadically on both sides of the United States-Canada border to northwestern Montana and adjacent southern Alberta. Variety hispida forms occasional hybrids with Castilleja levisecta in Thurston County, Washington, and with C. chambersii in Clatsop County, Oregon.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaves (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed; calyx lobe apices obtuse to rounded; lateral calyx clefts 2–7 mm; Cascade Range and west to coast.
var. hispida
1. Leaves 0–3(–5)-lobed; calyx lobe apices acute; lateral calyx clefts 4.5–7 mm; e slope of Cascade Range to Alberta.
var. acuta
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 612. FNA vol. 17, p. 613.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja Orobanchaceae > Castilleja > Castilleja hispida
Sibling taxa
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. coccinea, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. occidentalis, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. septentrionalis, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii, C. xanthotricha
C. hispida var. acuta
Subordinate taxa
C. hispida var. acuta, C. hispida var. hispida
Synonyms C. hispida subsp. abbreviata
Name authority Bentham: in W. J. Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 105. (1838) unknown
Web links