Castilleja lutescens |
Castilleja puberula |
|
---|---|---|
stiff yellow Indian paintbrush, stiff yellow paintbrush, yellow paintbrush, yellowish paintbrush |
alpine paintbrush, short-flower paintbrush, shortflower Indian paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.4–6 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–1.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a 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. |
few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs retrorse, short, soft, eglandular. |
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 to purple, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2–3.3 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending-spreading to widely spreading, narrowly linear, 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. |
4–5 × 1.5–2.5 cm; bracts greenish throughout, or proximally greenish, distally bright yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-orange on apices, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 0–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading, filiform to linear, long, proximal lobes arising in proximal 1/2, apex acute to acuminate. |
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 or slightly curved, 18–21 mm; tube 13–15 mm; beak exserted, adaxially yellow to yellow-green, 6–8 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, visible in front cleft, slightly pouched, 2.5–3.5 mm, 35–60% as long as beak; teeth erect, yellow, 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. |
light green to yellowish, margins sometimes yellow, 10–17 mm; abaxial clefts 8–9 mm, adaxial 2–3 mm, abaxial ca. 50% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 20% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.9–2.5 mm, 12–20% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
2n | = 48, 96. |
= 24. |
Castilleja lutescens |
Castilleja puberula |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering (Feb–)Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Grasslands, open conifer forests, moist meadows, rocky slopes, valleys, montane. | Moist meadows, stream banks, mesic rocky slopes, tundra, subalpine and alpine. |
Elevation | 600–1900 m. (2000–6200 ft.) | 2700–3900 m. (8900–12800 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; MT; OR; WA; AB; BC
|
CO; MT
|
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.) |
Castilleja puberula is a near-endemic of alpine communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Larimer, and Park counties. A highly disjunct population occurs near the summit of Mt. Jefferson on the Continental Divide in Beaverhead County, Montana. Castilleja puberula appears to be a high-elevation isolate from the widespread C. flava, which is common at lower elevations in the Intermountain Region. A single case of hybridization with C. septentrionalis is known from Clear Creek County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 624. | FNA vol. 17, p. 648. |
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) | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 31: 644. (1905) |
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