Castilleja latifolia |
Castilleja mollis |
|
---|---|---|
Monterey coast paintbrush, Monterey Indian paintbrush, Monterey paintbrush, seaside paintbrush |
soft leaf Indian paintbrush, soft-leaf paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 2–6 dm; from a woody caudex and sometimes from a woody proximal stem; with a taproot. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 3–4 dm; from a woody caudex; with woody roots. |
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. |
few to several, ± prostrate, sometimes ascending, much-branched, with dense, matlike growth form, often with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs dense, tangled, short to long, fairly stiff, branched, sometimes glandular, white-woolly. |
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 to deep purple, narrowly elliptic to oblong, ovate, or obovate, 1–3 cm, ± fleshy, margins plane or ± wavy, flat, 0-lobed, apex rounded, rarely acute. |
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. |
usually erect, 2.5–8 × 1.5–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally pale to bright yellow, sometimes brownish orange, sometimes with brownish orange medial band, oblong, elliptic, or obovate, ± cup-shaped, ± fleshy, 0–3-lobed; lobes erect, oblong, short, arising near tip, central lobe apex rounded to truncate, sometimes crenate or with obtuse teeth, lateral ones obtuse. |
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, 17–26 mm; tube 12–13 mm; beak often slightly exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green, 11–13 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, 1.5–3.5 mm, 10–20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, reduced, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
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. |
colored as bracts, lacking orange central band, 16–23 mm; abaxial clefts 9.5–14 mm, adaxial 8 mm, abaxial 50–67% of calyx length, adaxial 35–45% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 4.5–5 mm, 20–25% of calyx length; lobes oblong to triangular, abaxials sometimes wider than adaxials, apex acute to rounded, inner surface glabrous. |
2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
Castilleja latifolia |
Castilleja mollis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–Oct. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Coastal dunes and scrub, chaparral, grasslands, sandy bluffs. | Sandy openings in coastal scrub, thin sandy soils over limestone terraces, north- or northwest-facing sandy bluffs, dunes. |
Elevation | 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.) | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
|
CA
|
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.) |
Castilleja mollis is federally listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. It is endemic to the coastal terraces of the northern portion of Santa Rosa Island, Santa Barbara County, in the northern Channel Islands of southern California. It is recorded historically from San Miguel Island. Much of the available low-elevation habitat on Santa Rosa Island was degraded by trampling and grazing of introduced ungulates, which also resulted in the apparent loss of a natural population on the western end of San Miguel Island, last seen in the 1930s and now believed extirpated. Reports of C. mollis from the Oso Flaco Lake area of the mainland, in San Luis Obispo County, are based on populations of C. affinis var. contentiosa. Castilleja mollis is most closely related to C. latifolia of the central California coast and a sister species to the north, C. mendocinensis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 619. | FNA vol. 17, p. 632. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 154. (1833) | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 185. (1947) |
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