Castilleja mendocinensis |
Castilleja densiflora |
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Mendocino coast Indian paintbrush, Mendocino coast paintbrush |
dense-flower owl's-clover, denseflower Indian paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.7–6.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, annual, 0.7–4.7 dm; with fibrous roots. | ||||||||
Stems | few to many, decumbent to ascending, much-branched, with leafy axillary shoots, villous, hairs spreading, long, stiff to soft, eglandular, mixed with short-glandular ones. |
solitary, erect, branched, sometimes unbranched, glabrous or glabrate proximally, pubescent distally, hairs moderately dense, spreading, short to long, soft, eglandular, often mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones (except var. obispoënsis). |
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Leaves | gray-green becoming ± purple, or green, ± cup-shaped, oblong to narrowly elliptic or suborbicular, 0.5–2(–5) cm, ± fleshy, cupulate throughout, sometimes obscurely so on distal portion of stem, margins plane, flat to involute, 0–3-lobed, apex rounded; lobes ascending, oblong to rounded, apex truncate or rounded, sometimes ± acute. |
pale green, linear to broadly lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or ovate, 1.4–9 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat or slightly involute, (0–)3–5-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly to sometimes broadly lanceolate, apex acuminate to acute. |
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Inflorescences | 5–23 × 1.5–3.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally bright red or red-orange, sometimes orange, oblong, ovate, or widely cuneate to widely obovate to suborbiculate, sometimes cup-shaped, 0–3-lobed, sometimes with 3 additional shallow teeth at tip of central lobe; lobes erect, oblong to broadly triangular, short, arising above mid length, apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, lateral ones sometimes acute. |
1–16(–20) × 2.5–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish to deep purple, distally white, or pink to pink-purple or reddish purple on apices, if white sometimes aging pink, lanceolate, 3–5-lobed; lobes ascending, linear to oblanceolate, long, arising below mid length, apex acute to acuminate. |
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Corollas | straight or slightly curved, 28–45 mm; tube 18–20 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green or yellow-green, 15–25 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, visible in front cleft, 1–1.5 mm, 10% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
straight, 14–29 mm; tube expanded distally; abaxial lip and beak exserted from or equal to calyx; beak straight, adaxially pink, purple, or white, if white often aging light pink, (4–)5–7 mm, densely puberulent, hairs often stipitate-glandular; abaxial lip proximally white or pink to deep purple, expanded part white throughout, or proximally white or purple, or green becoming light pink with age, distally white or yellow (sometimes becoming orange with age), purple or maroon spots or blotches on each lobe, inflated, lobes 3, pouches gradually (to abruptly) widened, 4–6 mm wide, 2–3 mm deep, deeper than tall, 3–7 mm, 80–100% as long as beak; teeth erect, pink, white (often turning pink with age), chartreuse, or purple, sometimes with deep purple spot at base, 1–2.5 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, often with a yellow central band, 20–31 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 8–12 mm, ca. 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–6 mm, 10–15% of calyx length; lobes oblong to broadly or narrowly triangular, apex obtuse or rounded, sometimes acute. |
colored as bracts, 5–20 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 4.7–15 mm, 33–90% of calyx length, slightly deeper than laterals or all 4 clefts subequal, lateral 3–8 mm, 33–60% of calyx length; lobes linear to narrowly oblanceolate, apex acute. |
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Filaments | glabrous. |
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2n | = 72. |
= 24. |
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Castilleja mendocinensis |
Castilleja densiflora |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Aug. | |||||||||
Habitat | Coastal scrub, headlands, sea bluffs, over sandstone or serpentine. | |||||||||
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
CA; OR
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CA; Mexico (Baja California)
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Discussion | Castilleja mendocinensis is a coastal plant from Mendocino County, California, northward to Curry County, Oregon. Its close relative, C. latifolia, occurs in similar habitats south of San Francisco Bay. There is one known population in Oregon, and a number of California localities are threatened by coastal development. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Castilleja densiflora is often confused with C. exserta, and both species are broadly overlapping in both range and habitat, often occurring in close proximity. However, intermediates are remarkably rare. The two are most easily separated by the structure and pubescence of the corollas. In addition to the characters mentioned in the key, C. densiflora usually has a bilobed stigma that is exserted from the apex of the corolla with a more or less vertical orientation, while that of C. exserta emerges horizontally and is capitate. These differences are remarkably consistent. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 626. | FNA vol. 17, p. 601. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | C. latifolia subsp. mendocinensis | Orthocarpus densiflorus | ||||||||
Name authority | (Eastwood) Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 184. (1947) | (Bentham) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 656. (1991) | ||||||||
Web links |