Castilleja miniata |
Castilleja cinerea |
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common paintbrush, common red paintbrush, giant red Indian paintbrush, great red paintbrush, scarlet Indian paintbrush, scarlet or common or giant red paintbrush, scarlet paintbrush |
ash-gray Indian paintbrush, ash-gray paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.2–8(–10) dm; from a woody caudex (or slender rooting rhizomes in var. dixonii, var. miniata); with a taproot or with slender, branched roots from a rhizome. | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–3 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | ||||||||||||
Stems | few to many, erect to ascending, rarely proximally decumbent or creeping and rooting at nodes, usually branched, glabrous, glabrate, or hairy, hairs spreading to ± retrorse, short to long, soft to stiff, rarely stipitate-glandular. |
several to many, erect to ascending, or decumbent, inflorescence erect in high-elevation form, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs dense, spreading, ashy gray, short and long, soft, mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones. |
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Leaves | green to purple, linear to lanceolate, narrowly elliptic, narrowly oblong, or ovate, (1.5–)3–8(–9.5) cm, thin and not fleshy or slightly to moderately thickened and slightly fleshy, margins plane, rarely wavy, flat to involute, whole leaf sometimes recurved downward, 0(–5)-lobed, apex acute to obtuse, sometimes rounded; lobes ascending-spreading, narrowly lanceolate, apex acute. |
green, brown, purple, or deep gray, linear or narrowly to broadly lanceolate to sometimes ovate, 0.7–3 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, slightly involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending to spreading, linear to lanceolate, apex acuminate. |
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Inflorescences | 3–15(–22) × 1.5–5.5 cm, often bearing a thin, white, powdery exudate, especially on bract surfaces; bracts greenish, scarlet, red, red-orange, or pale orange throughout, sometimes pink, magenta, pink-purple, yellow, greenish yellow, white, or salmon throughout, or proximally greenish, distally colored as above, lanceolate to oblong-ovate, 0–5(–7)-lobed, central lobes sometimes distally apiculate; lobes erect, linear to lanceolate, oblong, or oblanceolate, short or medium length, arising near or above mid length, central lobe apex obtuse, rounded, or truncate, lateral ones rounded to acute or acuminate. |
1–8.5 × 2–5 cm; bracts proximally greenish or deep reddish purple, distally burnt orange, sometimes yellow or deep red to deep burgundy, proximal sometimes lanceolate with narrow lobes, distal or all bracts broadly lanceolate to oblong or slightly oblanceolate, (0–)3–5-lobed, appearing dusty with dense, short stipitate-glandular hairs, many with a nodulose to pillarlike, crystallized, usually pigmented exudate, papillose at 40x; lobes ascending-spreading, oblong or oblanceolate, short, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded, often expanded, rounded, or truncate, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
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Pedicels | 0–5 mm. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 20–48 mm; tube 12–26 mm; abaxial lip usually not exserted, though often visible in front calyx cleft, beak partially to fully exserted; beak adaxially green to yellow-green or whitish, (9–)14–25 mm; abaxial lip incurved or ascending, deep green or green, sometimes deep purple or yellowish, reduced, not inflated, visible in front cleft, 0.5–3.5 mm, 5–20% as long as beak (to ca. 33% as long as beak in some populations of var. miniata); teeth incurved or erect, green or white, 0.7–1.5 mm. |
straight, 12–18 mm; tube 9–14 mm; beak included or tip just barely exserted, adaxially green or pale yellow to deep burgundy, 3–5 mm; abaxial lip green, burgundy, or reddish purple (in high-elevation form), little inflated, small, included, 2 mm, to 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, 0.2–0.5 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, 15–38 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 4–24 mm, 35–70% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (1–)3–8(–12) mm, 5–30% of calyx length; lobes linear or narrowly lanceolate to narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate or obtuse. |
colored as bracts, sometimes whitish proximally, 1.5–20 mm (shorter in upper elevation form); abaxial and adaxial clefts 3.5–8 mm, 30–50% of calyx length, all 4 clefts subequal; lobes linear to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, apex obtuse to rounded, densely stipitate-glandular. |
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2n | = 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144. |
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Castilleja miniata |
Castilleja cinerea |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug(–Oct). | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Dry rocky slopes, ridges, and flats, pebble plains, sagebrush openings, open conifer forests. | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 1800–3100 m. (5900–10200 ft.) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
AK; AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; YT; nw Mexico
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CA
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Discussion | Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Castilleja miniata is widely recognized as the common scarlet paintbrush. It is highly variable and has five levels of polyploidy. Nonetheless, it remains fairly well defined morphologically across its wide range. Native Americans use it medicinally. A probable hybrid with C. septentrionalis from southern Nevada was named C. ×porterae Cockerell. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja cinerea is endemic to the higher elevations of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County. Most plants are upright to ascending and have yellow to yellow-orange inflorescences, with occasional plants ranging to dull red, especially with age. On Sugarloaf Mountain, mostly above 2700 m, is a distinctive form with consistently reddish purple to burgundy inflorescences and a strongly decumbent growth form. Castilleja cinerea is most often associated with and likely parasitic on Artemisia nova and Eriogonum species. Castilleja cinerea is known from few populations and is threatened by livestock grazing, development, and vehicle use. It is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of the United States. The crystalline exudate associated with the stipitate-glandular pubescence of the distal portion of the bracts is unique in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 627. | FNA vol. 17, p. 597. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Orthocarpus cinereus | |||||||||||||
Name authority | Douglas ex Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 2: 106. (1838) | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 93. (1883) — (as Castilleia) | ||||||||||||
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