Castilleja lutescens
Castilleja hololeuca
stiff yellow Indian paintbrush, stiff yellow paintbrush, yellow paintbrush, yellowish paintbrush
Channel Islands paintbrush, island paintbrush, island white-felted paintbrush, white-felted paintbrush
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.
many, erect to spreading, much-branched with many short axillary shoots, proximal stems reaching 1+ cm wide, white-felted, hairs dense, spreading to ± appressed, intertwined, long, soft, slightly branched, obscuring surface.
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.
ash gray, leaves of previous year persisting on proximal stem, linear, older leaves sometimes broadly linear, 1–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex obtuse;
lobes ascending, linear-lanceolate, apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes acute.
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.
3–16 × 2–4 cm;
bracts pale gray-green throughout, or proximally pale gray-green, distally red or yellow, proximal linear, distal broader, often oblanceolate to obovate, (0–)3-lobed;
lobes spreading, linear to oblong, short to long, arising below mid length, apex rounded to truncate or acute.
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.
slightly curved in proximal 1/3, 14–26(–31) mm;
tube 9–17 mm;
abaxial lip not exserted, beak exserted;
beak adaxially green to yellowish, 11–14 mm;
abaxial lip ascending, deep green, reduced, 2–3 mm, less than 33% as long as beak;
teeth reduced to apiculations, deep green, 1–1.5 mm.
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.
colored as bracts, with conspicuous whitish veins, 14–18(–20) mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–12 mm, 30–67% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0 mm or nearly so, ca. 0% of calyx length;
lobes linear-lanceolate, apex rounded, truncate, or emarginate.
= 48, 96.
Castilleja lutescens
Castilleja hololeuca
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.)
Castilleja hololeuca is endemic to the four major islands of the northern Channel Islands. It is similar to C. lanata, a mostly Mexican species that reaches Arizona, New Mexico, and southwest Texas. However, C. hololeuca appears to be more closely related to C. foliolosa, a species of the California mainland. These three species, and C. galehintoniae G. L. Nesom of Nuevo León, all share a distinctive, thick indument of pale, matted, and often branched hairs on the stems and leaves. Large individuals of C. hololeuca form thick, woody trunks. On Anacapa Island, closest to the mainland, red-flowered forms of C. hololeuca predominate. On Santa Cruz Island, to the west, both red- and yellow-bracted forms are fairly common, usually in separate populations. Further offshore, on San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands, most plants are yellow to, occasionally, peach in coloration. Reports of this species from Santa Barbara and Santa Catalina Islands are referable to other species, mostly C. foliolosa. Populations of C. hololeuca historically declined from grazing by introduced game and livestock species. The plants are recovering well, following removal of the grazing animals, and are now common in many areas, especially on San Miguel Island.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CA
