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

linear-lobed paintbrush, lineated paintbrush, marsh-meadow Indian paintbrush

painted-cup, red paintbrush, scarlet Indian paintbrush, scarlet paintbrush, scarlet painted-cup

Habit Herbs, perennial, 1–4 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. Herbs, annual or biennial, 1.2–5(–7) dm; with fibrous roots.
Stems

few to many, erect or strongly ascending, unbranched except for small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading-reflexed to ± appressed, matted, long, soft, with much shorter stipitate-glandular ones, white-woolly.

solitary or few, erect to ascending, unbranched, rarely branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, others shorter and glandular.

Leaves

green, linear to narrowly oblong or narrowly lanceolate, 1.3–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, involute, 3–7-lobed, apex acute;

lobes divergent, spreading-ascending, linear, apex acute to acuminate.

green to sometimes brownish, rosette leaves persisting or withered at anthesis, oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1–3 cm, usually 0-lobed;

cauline leaves linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2–7(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, involute, 3–7(–9)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate;

cauline leaves: lobes spreading to ascending, linear to oblong, (2–)5–25 mm, apex acuminate.

Inflorescences

5–22 × 1–4.5 cm;

bracts green to yellow-green throughout, or proximally green to yellow-green, distally yellow to sometimes pale yellow-orange, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong or broadly lanceolate, 3(–7)-lobed;

lobes ascending to spreading, linear to oblong, medium length to long, arising near or below mid length, central lobe apex rounded to obtuse, lateral ones acute.

2–35 (longest in fruit) × 1.5–6 cm;

bracts proximally greenish to brownish green, distally red, sometimes orange, yellow, or white, lanceolate to obovate, 3(–5)-lobed;

lobes spreading-ascending, lanceolate and longer on proximal bracts, becoming oblanceolate, shorter, and wider on distal bracts, arising from distal 3/4 of blade, apex acute to rounded.

Corollas

straight or slightly curved, 14–22 mm;

tube 7–14 mm;

beak tip barely exserted from calyx;

beak adaxially greenish, 4–7 mm;

abaxial lip green to yellow, reduced, 1–4 mm, usually less than 67% as long as beak;

teeth erect, white to yellow, 1–2.5 mm.

straight, 18–31 mm;

tube 15–18 mm;

abaxial lip ± exserted, beak exserted, often whitish, yellowish, or faint dull reddish proximally, adaxially green distally, 7–10 mm;

abaxial lip green to yellowish, apex pink to yellow, reduced, ± protuberant, 1.5–4 mm, 20–33% as long as beak;

teeth erect, green or yellow, apices white, yellow, or pink, 2–4(–5) mm.

Calyces

colored as bracts, 15–20 mm;

abaxial and adaxial clefts 5.5–8 mm, 30–50% of calyx length, ± deeper than laterals, sometimes appearing subequal in pressed specimens, lateral 5–6 mm, ca. 33% of calyx length;

lobes linear to narrowly lanceolate, sometimes expanded towards apices, apex acute.

colored as bracts, 17–23(–28) mm;

abaxial clefts 6–10 mm, adaxial 5–8 mm, clefts 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–1 mm, 0–5% of calyx length;

lobes oblong to triangular, apex rounded to truncate, sometimes emarginate.

2n

= 24.

= 24, 46, 48.

Castilleja lineata

Castilleja coccinea

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering Jan–Sep.
Habitat Dry to moist slopes and meadows, shores, open conifer forests, montane to alpine. Damp or wet meadows, roadsides, prairies, swamps, peatlands, ditches, thickets, dunes, jack pine flats, rocky forests, ledges, sandstone, limestone, or granite.
Elevation 2100–3800 m. (6900–12500 ft.) 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; MB; ON; SK
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Castilleja lineata is restricted to the mountains of northeastern Arizona, southern Colorado, and northwestern New Mexico. It is uncommon throughout its range and is without apparent close relatives. The Navajo used C. lineata as a medicinal plant and for its sweet nectar (D. E. Moerman 1998).

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

Castilleja coccinea usually has red bracts. Forms with white or yellow bracts have been named but are scattered across the range of the species. However, yellow-bracted forms become markedly more common in populations in the northern portion of the range, especially in the upper midwestern region. Populations of C. coccinea seem ephemeral, disappearing from one site after a few years and appearing in another. It is rare in much of the eastern portion of its range, and apparently is extirpated in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 623. FNA vol. 17, p. 598.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja Orobanchaceae > Castilleja
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. hispida, 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. 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. 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. 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. hispida, 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
Synonyms Bartsia coccinea, C. ludoviciana
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 4: 151. (1900) — (as Castilleia) (Linnaeus) Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 775. (1825) — (as Castilleia)
Web links