Castilleja montigena |
Castilleja unalaschcensis |
|
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Heckard's Indian paintbrush, Heckard's paintbrush |
Alaska Indian paintbrush, coastal paintbrush, unalaska paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 1.5–4.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 2–8 dm; from a short, stout, scaly, many-headed, woody caudex; with rhizomes or branching, woody roots. |
Stems | few to several, decumbent to erect, sometimes leaning, unbranched or often much-branched distally, with a few short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, short, soft, stipitate-glandular, mixed with long-spreading, eglandular ones. |
few to many, erect to ascending, unbranched or branched distally, glabrate proximally, hairy distally, hairs sparse, spreading to erect, long, soft, eglandular, rarely stipitate-glandular. |
Leaves | gray-green, sometimes green, lanceolate-linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1–6.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, flat to involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes spreading-ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute. |
green, sometimes red-purplish, lanceolate-linear to lanceolate, elliptic-ovate, or ovate, (1.2–)3.5–10 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to slightly involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes ascending, lanceolate, apex acute to acuminate. |
Inflorescences | 3–30 × 3–4 cm; bracts proximally green to dark purplish, distally red to crimson, sometimes pale salmon, linear-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 3–5-lobed; lobes spreading, linear, long, arising below mid length, apex acute, sometimes obtuse. |
3.5–18 × 2–6.5 cm; bracts proximally green, distally yellow, pale yellow, whitish, yellow-green, or pale orange, often aging reddish or pink, lanceolate, elliptic, ovate, oblanceolate, or oblong to narrowly obovate, (0–)3–5-lobed; lobes ascending, linear to oblong, short, arising above mid length, apex acute to obtuse. |
Corollas | straight or slightly curved, 20–40 mm; tube 15–23 mm; abaxial lip exserted to included, beak much exserted; beak adaxially yellow-green to reddish, 9–18 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, 0.5–1.5 mm, 5–20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, (0–)0.5–1.5 mm. |
straight or slightly curved, 18–28 mm; tube 16–19 mm; beak partially to completely exserted, abaxial lip not exserted; beak adaxially green, 6–13 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, inconspicuous, 1–2 mm, ca. 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, deep green or white, 0.5–1 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, 15–20 mm; abaxial clefts 3.4–6.2 mm, adaxial 4.5–9 mm, clefts 25–33% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–2 mm, 5–10% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular, often slightly unequal, apex acute. |
colored as bracts, 15–28 mm; abaxial cleft 12–16 mm, adaxial 8–11.5 mm, clefts 40–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 4–10 mm, 20–35% of calyx length; lobes oblong to lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse or rounded. |
2n | = 48, 72. |
= ca. 96. |
Castilleja montigena |
Castilleja unalaschcensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering May–Sep. |
Habitat | Dry rocky slopes, ledges, open conifer forests, thickets, washes. | Meadows, dunes, thickets, upper margins of tidal flats, river flats, gravel bars, tundra, open forests, roadsides, coastal to alpine. |
Elevation | 1900–2900 m. (6200–9500 ft.) | 0–2100 m. (0–6900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
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AK; BC; YT; Asia (Russian Far East)
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Discussion | Castilleja montigena is endemic to the northeastern portion of the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. In the field, this species is consistently and relatively easily distinguished from nearby populations of C. martini var. martini, which it essentially replaces in the northeastern portion of the San Bernardino Mountains. It is apparently of allopolyploid hybrid origin between C. martini var. martini and C. chromosa, which approaches its range from the adjacent Mojave Desert. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja unalaschcensis is a characteristic meadow species across much of the southern Alaskan coast, including the Aleutian Islands, as well as on the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and the mainland of western British Columbia and southern Yukon. It is common in the coastal littoral zone and ascends to lower alpine meadow communities. Morphologically, it appears to be a sister species to C. septentrionalis of the Rocky Mountains and boreal sites in eastern North America. A weakly differentiated interior form was described as subsp. transnivalis Pennell. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 632. | FNA vol. 17, p. 663. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. pallida var. unalaschcensis | |
Name authority | Heckard: Syst. Bot. 5: 83, fig. 17 [center]. (1980) | (Chamisso & Schlechtendal) Malte: Rhodora 36: 187. (1934) — (as unalaschkensis) |
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