Castilleja latifolia |
Castilleja minor |
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Monterey coast paintbrush, Monterey Indian paintbrush, Monterey paintbrush, seaside paintbrush |
annual paintbrush, California threadtorch, lesser Indian paintbrush, little paintbrush, seep paintbrush, thread-torch paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 2–6 dm; from a woody caudex and sometimes from a woody proximal stem; with a taproot. | Herbs, annual, 2–10(–15) dm; with a short taproot or small, fibrous root system. | ||||||||||||
Stems | many, spreading to erect, much-branched, with numerous short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs moderately dense, spreading, medium length to long, stiff to soft, shorter stipitate-glandular ones. |
solitary or few, erect, unbranched, rarely branched distally, hairs sparse to dense, spreading, sometimes shaggy (var. minor), short to long, soft to stiff, eglandular and/or sparsely to densely stipitate-glandular. |
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Leaves | gray-green becoming ± purple to sometimes green as hairs are lost, oblong to lanceolate-oblong or broadly lanceolate, 0.5–2 cm, ± fleshy, cupulate, sometimes obscurely so on distal portion of stem, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, involute, 0–3-lobed, apex truncate or broadly rounded to obtuse; lobes erect to ascending, oblong, apex rounded. |
green or purple to ± gray, linear to lanceolate, 2–10 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, ± involute, 0-lobed, apex acuminate to acute, sometimes obtuse. |
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Inflorescences | 2.5–20 × 1.5–5 cm; bracts proximally green to dull, deep brownish purple, distally bright red, red-orange, or orange, sometimes yellow to yellow-orange, oblong or broadly lanceolate to widely obovate or ovate, often cup-shaped, center lobe often expanded distally, 0–3(–5)-lobed, often wavy-margined; lobes ascending, oblong, short or long, arising near or above mid length, central lobe apex mostly rounded to truncate, sometimes with 5 or so very shallow teeth. |
5–40 × 1–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally red, red-orange, or pale orange, rarely yellow, on apices, narrowly lanceolate, sometimes narrowly oblong to spatulate distally, 0-lobed, plane-margined, apex acuminate (oblong to narrowly spatulate in var. spiralis). |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 19–30 mm; tube 8.5–15 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 8.5–15 mm; abaxial lip ascending, deep green, reduced, 0.5–1 mm, 5–10% as long as beak; teeth incurved, reduced, green or white, 0.2–0.5 mm. |
straight, 13–39 mm; tube 11–16(–20) mm; beak partially to completely exserted, sometimes included, adaxially yellow, pale orange to red-orange, reddish brown, green, or white, 5–15(–20) mm; abaxial lip yellow, white, red, deep red, red-violet, or green, colored as or strongly contrasting with rest of corolla, small but jutting out at 90° from axis of corolla, often readily visible through abaxial cleft, 1–3 mm, 5–25% as long as beak; teeth spreading to strongly incurved, green, white, yellow, red, or red-purple, 0.2–1 mm. |
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Calyces | proximally light green to sometimes purple, distally colored as bracts, 15–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–9.5 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–3 mm, ca. 12% of calyx length; lobes broadly triangular to oblong, apex rounded to obtuse, rarely acute. |
green or yellowish green, 13–27(–28) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–15 mm, 33–75% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–4 mm, 5–20% of calyx length; lobes linear to narrowly triangular or narrowly lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Castilleja latifolia |
Castilleja minor |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–Oct. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Coastal dunes and scrub, chaparral, grasslands, sandy bluffs. | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA
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AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC; nw Mexico
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Discussion | Castilleja latifolia is endemic to the central California coast, especially around Monterey Bay. Around Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County, it apparently forms hybrids with C. affinis var. affinis. Records of this species from north of San Francisco and south of Monterey County are referable to other species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Castilleja minor is a widespread specialist of seeps, saline shores, and wet ground at moderate elevations. California has many populations on serpentine substrates. Most of the varieties have distinct ranges with little overlap, with the exception of the edaphic obligate var. spiralis, which is restricted to serpentine substrates. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 619. | FNA vol. 17, p. 630. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||||||||||
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Synonyms | C. affinis var. minor | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 154. (1833) | (A. Gray) A. Gray: in W. H. Brewer et al., Bot. California 1: 573. (1876) — (as Castilleia) | ||||||||||||
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