Castilleja lemmonii |
Castilleja wightii |
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Lemmon's Indian paintbrush, Lemmon's paintbrush |
Wight's Indian paintbrush, Wight's paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–2.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with slender, branching roots. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 3–8 dm; from a woody caudex; with woody, branching roots. |
Stems | few to many, decumbent-based to erect, unbranched except for short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs sparse, spreading, medium length to long, soft and dense, short to medium length, stipitate-glandular. |
few to many, ascending to erect, much-branched, usually with prominent leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, long, soft, mixed with shorter, stipitate-glandular ones. |
Leaves | green or gray-green to purple (sometimes different on stems of same plant), linear-lanceolate, distal sometimes broadly lanceolate, 0.5–4 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate, rarely obtuse. |
green-tinged or ± purple, sometimes yellow-green tinged, densely crowded, linear, lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, or ovate, 1–7 cm, thickened, not usually fleshy, margins plane to wavy, involute or flat, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex broadly rounded to obtuse or acute; lobes spreading-ascending, linear, narrowly lanceolate, triangular, or rounded, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded. |
Inflorescences | 2–12 × 1–3 cm; bracts greenish to dull purplish or brownish throughout, or proximally greenish to dull purplish, distally pink to purple or magenta, rarely white, ovate, broadly lanceolate, or oblong, (0–)3–5-lobed; lobes ascending to erect, lanceolate, medium length, arising above mid length, apex acute to rounded. |
3–22 × 1.5–3.5 cm; bracts proximally green to deep purple, rarely light tan, distally red, scarlet, rose, red-orange, or yellow, sometimes orange, dull brownish orange, pale pinkish tan, yellow aging white, yellow aging pink, red with pink apices, magenta, or white, sometimes with a yellow to deep purple medial band, lanceolate, oblong, or narrowly ovate, (0–)3–5(–7+)-lobed, distal margins of central lobe and sometimes also side lobes with multiple shallow teeth, proximal often wavy-margined; lobes erect or ascending, linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, short, arising in distal 2/3, apex obtuse to acute, central lobe often rounded to truncate. |
Pedicels | 0 mm or nearly so. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 16–21 mm; tube 10–16 mm; abaxial lip sometimes partly exserted, beak usually exserted; beak adaxially green, 6–7 mm, margins red; abaxial lip greenish, inflated, pouches 3, shallow, central pouch shallowly grooved, visible through front cleft, 3–4 mm, 60% as long as beak; teeth erect, violet-purple or pink, 1–2.5 mm. |
slightly curved proximally, 20–30 mm; tube 10–12 mm; distal portion of beak exserted, abaxial lip included; beak adaxially green to yellow, 11.5–18 mm; abaxial lip deep green, sometimes to very deep purple, reduced, included, usually not visible through front cleft, 1–2 mm, 15–25% as long as beak; teeth erect, green to sometimes pink, 0.5–1.5 mm. |
Calyces | proximally brown or dull magenta, sometimes green, distally colored as bracts, 12.5–18 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5.5–10.5 mm, 40–65% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–2 mm, 5–15% of calyx length; lobes oblong, apex rounded. |
colored as bracts, 15–28 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 8–11 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–5.5 mm, 5–30% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate to oblong to broadly triangular, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded. |
Stigmas | greenish to deep bluish purple. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24, 48. |
Castilleja lemmonii |
Castilleja wightii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering Mar–Aug(–Nov). |
Habitat | Moist to wet meadows and flats, shorelines, open conifer forests, subalpine and alpine, often over granite. | Coastal scrub, damp thickets, stream banks, sea bluffs, canyon slopes, roadsides. |
Elevation | 1500–3700 m. [4900–12100 ft.] | 0–700 m. [0–2300 ft.] |
Distribution |
CA; NV
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CA
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Discussion | As delimited here, Castilleja lemmonii is endemic to the highlands of the Sierra Nevada in California and in adjacent Washoe County, Nevada. It differs from C. lassenensis, a plant of volcanic highlands around Mt. Lassen, which has consistently white corollas. Corollas are usually pink to purplish in C. lemmonii. Castilleja lemmonii also tends to have somewhat shorter lateral calyx clefts, though the two species overlap slightly in this character. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja wightii is found along or near the central and northern coast of California. Historical collections of C. wightii from Curry County, Oregon, are referable to other species, but it should be sought in the area. Reports from the south-central coast of California are referable to other species, particularly C. affinis. Castilleja wightii appears to intergrade with C. latifolia and perhaps C. affinis south of San Francisco. Despite much attention from botanists, the perennial paintbrushes along the coast between Monterey and San Francisco can be perplexing and difficult to identify. This situation is likely the result of introgression, but this complex is in need of meticulous genetic and morphological analysis. North of San Francisco, C. wightii is straightforward to recognize, with its abundantly stipitate-glandular stems and leaves. In addition, the leaves are often crowded on the stems, which bear axillary shoots. Most populations have either red or yellow bracts, with only occasional individual plants of the other color. Yellow populations are found primarily in Marin and southern Sonoma counties southward and are gradually replaced by red populations from northern Sonoma County northward. Mixed color populations occur in a few places, especially in San Mateo County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 620. | FNA vol. 17, p. 664. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. culbertsonii | C. wightii subsp. rubra |
Name authority | A. Gray: in A. Gray et al., Syn. Fl. N. Amer. 2(1): 297. (1878) — (as Castilleia lemmoni) | Elmer: Bot. Gaz. 41: 322. (1906) — (as Castilleia) |
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