Castilleja litoralis |
Castilleja foliolosa |
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coast paintbrush, Oregon coast paintbrush, Pacific paintbrush |
felt paintbrush, Texas Indian paintbrush, Texas paintbrush, woolly Indian paintbrush, woolly paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–9 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs or subshrubs, sometimes shrubs, perennial, 1.2–6 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | few to many, usually decumbent proximally, becoming ascending-erect, sometimes ascending, branched, sometimes with small, leafy axillary shoots, glabrate or ± pubescent distally, hairs sparse to moderately dense, spreading to ± appressed, short, soft, sometimes mixed with short-glandular ones below inflorescence. |
many, ascending, white or grayish due to hairs branched, much-branched proximally, unbranched to sometimes branched on distal 1/2, also usually with short axillary branches, base often shrubby and with marcescent leaves of previous year, hairs dense, appressed to spreading, medium length, soft, much-branched, eglandular, white-woolly, obscuring surface. |
Leaves | green, lanceolate to oblong or narrowly ovate, (0.5–)3–8 cm, sometimes thickened, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to rounded; lobes ascending or spreading, linear, narrowly lanceolate to oblong or triangular, short, apex acute to obtuse. |
whitish or grayish, linear to narrowly lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 0.9–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0–3-lobed, apex obtuse to rounded; lobes divergent, spreading, linear, apex acuminate to acute. |
Inflorescences | 2.5–21 × 3–5 cm; bracts proximally green, distally bright red to crimson or orange-red, sometimes orange or pale yellow-orange, oblong to narrowly ovate or narrowly obovate, (0–)3–5-lobed, sometimes with a pair of small teeth; lobes ascending, linear to oblong, medium length, arising in middle 1/3, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded or truncate, lateral ones ± acute. |
2.5–20 × 1.5–3 cm; bracts proximally green to dull pale purplish, distally red, scarlet, rose, yellow, orange, or cream, sometimes pink or white, lanceolate to oblanceolate, (0–)3–5-lobed; lobes spreading, or distal ones erect, often oblanceolate, if 5-lobed, distal lobes usually very shallow, long or distal short, proximal bracts arising below mid length, distal ones arising near apex, apex rounded to truncate. |
Pedicels | 0–6 mm. |
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Corollas | straight or slightly curved, 23–38(–40) mm; tube 10–20 mm; abaxial lip often visible through front cleft, very rarely almost exserted, beak exserted; beak adaxially green or yellowish, 10–16 mm, surface inconspicuously puberulent; abaxial lip ascending, green, reduced, 1–2.5 mm, 10–20% as long as beak; teeth erect or incurved, green or white, 1–2 mm. |
straight or slightly curved, 16–27 mm; tube (8–)10–12(–14) mm; beak exserted or partially so, adaxially green, (7–)8.5–14 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, 1–3 mm, 20–33% as long as beak; teeth incurved, reduced, green, 0.5 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, 17–25(–30) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (5–)7–15(–18) mm, 33–55% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–3(–5) mm, 5–10% of calyx length; lobes broadly triangular to oblong, apex obtuse to acute or rounded. |
proximally green, apices colored as bracts, 14–20(–22) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 3.5–7(–9) mm, 33–40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0(–1) mm, 0(–7)% of calyx length; lobes broadly triangular, apex of lobes and segments broadly rounded to truncate, segments, if present, obtuse. |
2n | = 120, 144. |
= 24. |
Castilleja litoralis |
Castilleja foliolosa |
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Phenology | Flowering (Apr–)May–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering Jan–Jul. |
Habitat | Steep rocky slopes, headlands, ledges, sea cliffs, coastal scrub, dune swales, roadcuts. | Chaparral, dry rocky slopes, coastal scrub, open forests. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–1900 m. (0–6200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Castilleja litoralis never ranges more than one to two kilometers from the sea, from Humboldt County, California, north to Pacific County, Washington, near the mouth of the Columbia River. It is a high polyploid complex, possibly incorporating the genomes of several species, including C. affinis, C. miniata, and possibly C. hispida. The coastal C. miniata var. dixonii is very similar ecologically and morphologically but replaces C. litoralis from southwestern Washington to southern British Columbia. Compared to C. litoralis, C. miniata var. dixonii usually has somewhat longer corollas and corolla beaks, the latter with a more conspicuously puberulent surface and deeper lateral calyx clefts. Castilleja litoralis has been included as a subspecies of C. affinis by some (for example, M. Wetherwax et al. 2012), but the morphological resemblance to that species is far more tenuous than it is to C. miniata var. dixonii. Considering their very similar morphologies, along with the fact that both C. litoralis (2n = 120, 144) and C. miniata var. dixonii (2n = 96, 144) apparently combine multiple genomes, strongly suggest that they would best be treated as a single entity. Should they be combined at the species level following additional research, the name C. dixonii has priority. Castilleja litoralis is often associated with salal, Gaultheria shallon, on which it is likely parasitic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja foliolosa inhabits chaparral from northern California southward to northern Baja California, west of the Sierra Nevada crest. The inflorescence is usually red or red-orange but can vary to white, yellow, pink, or purple. It is present on Santa Catalina Island in the southern Channel Islands, Los Angeles County, but is replaced in the northern Channel Islands by C. hololeuca, a related shrubby species. Castilleja foliolosa hybridizes with C. martini var. martini in San Diego County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 624. | FNA vol. 17, p. 608. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. affinis subsp. litoralis, C. wightii subsp. litoralis | |
Name authority | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 183. (1947) | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 154. (1833) |
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