Castilleja lutescens |
Castilleja elmeri |
|
---|---|---|
stiff yellow Indian paintbrush, stiff yellow paintbrush, yellow paintbrush, yellowish paintbrush |
Elmer's Indian paintbrush, Elmer's paintbrush, Wenatchee Indian paintbrush, Wenatchee paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.4–6 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1.1–4.2 dm; from a many-headed, woody caudex; with a stout taproot. |
Stems | few to several, erect or ascending, sometimes decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, hairs spreading to retrorse, short, scabrid below inflorescence, sometimes becoming medium length to long, soft to stiff, mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones in inflorescence. |
solitary or few to many, erect to ascending, sometimes slightly curved at base, unbranched, rarely branched, hairs moderately dense, spreading, medium length, soft, mixed with shorter eglandular and stipitate-glandular ones, at least on distal 1/2 of stem. |
Leaves | green, sometimes purplish, linear to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 1–8.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat or involute lengthwise, 0(–5)-lobed, apex acute; lobes ascending, linear, central one sometimes shallowly toothed, apex acute to obtuse. |
green, rarely purple-tinged, linear-lanceolate, sometimes linear or lanceolate, 1.3–6.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat or involute, entire, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 3–14 × 1.5–3 cm; bracts greenish throughout, or proximally greenish, distally pale to bright yellow or whitish, rarely pale orangish, lanceolate to oblong, (0–)3–7-lobed; lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate or narrowly oblong, medium length, arising at or above mid length, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded, lateral ones acute. |
2.5–9 × 1.5–3 cm; bracts red, crimson, scarlet, pink, magenta, red-orange, burnt orange, orange, pale yellow, or whitish throughout, or proximally greenish, distally as stated above, oblong, narrowly obovate, elliptic-oblong, or narrowly ovate, 0(–5)-lobed, rarely with 1 or 2 pairs of short, usually distal lobes; lobes ascending, lanceolate, very short, arising from distal edge, apex rounded to obtuse. |
Pedicels | 0 mm. |
|
Corollas | straight or slightly curved, 21–27 mm; tube 14–16 mm; beak partly exserted, adaxially green, 7–12 mm; abaxial lip ascending, green, reduced, 2–4 mm, 25–50% as long as beak; teeth erect or incurved, sometimes spreading, green or white, 0.7–2.5 mm. |
straight, 20–33 mm; tubes 13–18 mm; beak, and sometimes abaxial lip, partially to fully exserted; beak adaxially green to yellowish, 8–15 mm; abaxial lip incurved, green, thickened, 2–3 mm, 20–33% as long as beak; teeth ascending or incurved, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, 15–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–13 mm, 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–7 mm, 15% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular to linear, apex acute. |
proximally green to pale green, distally colored as bracts, 15–25 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–4 mm, 6–20% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate to narrowly triangular, apex rounded to obtuse. |
2n | = 48, 96. |
= 48. |
Castilleja lutescens |
Castilleja elmeri |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Grasslands, open conifer forests, moist meadows, rocky slopes, valleys, montane. | Moist to dry rocky slopes, meadows, swales, sagebrush steppes, open conifer forests, montane to subalpine, often on serpentine. |
Elevation | 600–1900 m. (2000–6200 ft.) | 600–2600 m. (2000–8500 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
|
WA; BC
|
Discussion | Castilleja lutescens is found east of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington and ranges east to western Montana and the adjacent interior of western Canada. Its inflorescences vary in color from entirely greenish to white or yellowish, and the stature of the plants is also variable, trending from moderate and compact in grasslands to taller in more forested situations. In the Blue Mountains of Garfield County, Washington, occasional hybrids form between C. lutescens and C. hispida var. acuta, which often both occur in the same vicinity. L. R. Heckard (1968) reported a chromosome count of ca. 2n = 120 from a population in Montana. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The bracts and inflorescences of Castilleja elmeri can be red, crimson, scarlet, pink, magenta, red-orange, burnt orange, orange, pale yellow, or whitish. While the coloration is highly variable between local populations, it is usually uniform and consistent within them. It is found primarily in the Wenatchee Mountains of Washington, where it is often on serpentine, but it ranges northward in the Cascades into extreme southern British Columbia, apparently on non-serpentine substrates. Hybrids with C. miniata var. miniata, C. parviflora var. albida, and C. thompsonii have been found in the eastern Cascades of Washington, and a similar hybrid swarm with C. thompsonii is reported from southern British Columbia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 624. | FNA vol. 17, p. 605. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. pallida var. lutescens | |
Name authority | (Greenman) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 359. (1900) | Fernald: Erythea 6: 51. (1898) — (as Castilleia) |
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