Castilleja litoralis |
Castilleja lacera |
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coast paintbrush, Oregon coast paintbrush, Pacific paintbrush |
cut-leaf owl's clover, cut-leaf paintbrush, cutleaf Indian paintbrush, foothill owl's clover |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–9 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, annual, 0.5–4 dm; with fibrous roots. |
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. |
solitary, erect, unbranched or branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, scattered among more numerous, medium length, stipitate-glandular ones. |
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. |
green or purplish, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, 0–5(–7)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes spreading to ascending, 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. |
(1.5–)3–14 × 2–3 cm; bracts green throughout, sometimes proximally green, distally white on apices, lanceolate to ovate, 3–7-lobed; lobes spreading to ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, long, arising below mid length, apex obtuse to acute. |
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, 10–22 mm; tube 8–15 mm; abaxial lip and beak exserted; beak adaxially yellow to greenish, 3–6 mm, densely puberulent; abaxial lip yellow with purple dots at base, inflated, pouches 3, central pouch slightly 2-lobed, pouches 4–8 mm wide, 3–6 mm deep, side pouches curving up a little at tip, 2–5 mm, 75–95% as long as beak; teeth erect, white or yellow, 0.5–2 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. |
light green, lobes green, 7–13 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 3.5–8 mm, 50–67% of calyx length, lateral 2.5–5 mm, ca. 40% of calyx length; lobes narrowly to broadly lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate. |
Stigmas | equal to or slightly exserted from beak. |
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2n | = 120, 144. |
= 22, 24. |
Castilleja litoralis |
Castilleja lacera |
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Phenology | Flowering (Apr–)May–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Jul(–Aug). |
Habitat | Steep rocky slopes, headlands, ledges, sea cliffs, coastal scrub, dune swales, roadcuts. | Grasslands, meadows, moist flats, vernal pool margins, moist forest openings, serpentine slopes and ledges, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | 0–2700 m. (0–8900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR; WA
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CA; OR
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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 lacera is found in a wide range of elevations in the central and northern Sierra Nevada region and in the Siskiyou Mountains region of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Reports from the Coast Ranges north of the San Francisco Bay region and south of the Siskiyou region in western California are referable to other yellow-flowered annuals, including C. ambigua, C. rubicundula var. lithospermoides, Triphysaria eriantha subsp. eriantha, and T. versicolor subsp. faucibarbata. Although most similar to C. rubicundula, C. lacera is somewhat smaller in stature and flower size. It is also easily confused with yellow-flowered populations of C. tenuis, which has smaller flowers and an included stigma. Two chromosome numbers are known for this species, the more northern populations being diploid, and those to the south having an apparently aneuploid count of 2n = 22, which is unique in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 624. | FNA vol. 17, p. 617. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. affinis subsp. litoralis, C. wightii subsp. litoralis | Orthocarpus lacerus |
Name authority | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 183. (1947) | (Bentham) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 657. (1991) |
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