Castilleja nelsonii
Castilleja septentrionalis
Arizona or southern mountains paintbrush, Rincon Mountain Indian paintbrush
Labrador Indian paintbrush, northeastern paintbrush, northern or sulfur or yellow paintbrush, northern paintbrush, northern painted-cup, sulphur Indian paintbrush, sulphur paintbrush
few to many, ascending to erect, unbranched or often strongly and diffusely branched distally, hairs sparse to dense, spreading to matted, long proximally on stem, becoming puberulent distally, ± stiff, eglandular, often mixed with retrorse shorter ones.
few to several, erect to ascending or ± decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, glabrous or glabrate proximally, sometimes hairy, hairs spreading to retrorsely curved, short, ± stiff throughout, spreading, longer, soft to ± stiff distally, often glandular and short-glandular.
green, linear-lanceolate or narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 2–6.5(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat to involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute;
lobes ascending, lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse.
green to purplish, linear-lanceolate or narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 2–7(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat to involute, prominently veined, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate;
lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, short, apex acute or obtuse.
(2.5–)5–15 × 2–4.5 cm;
bracts proximally greenish, distally scarlet to red or orange-red, rarely yellow or crimson, veins usually yellow or yellow-green, contrasting conspicuously with base color, lanceolate or elliptic to oblanceolate or obovate, 0–3(–5)-lobed;
lobes ascending, lanceolate to triangular, medium length, arising above mid length, apex rounded to obtuse.
2.1–11 × 1.5–4 cm;
bracts proximally greenish to pale yellow-green, sometimes brownish purple, distally white to cream or light yellow, sometimes light pink or buff, sometimes aging pink or reddish, broadly lanceolate to oblong or obovate, sometimes lanceolate, 0–3(–5)-lobed, sometimes with irregular teeth at apex;
lobes erect, triangular, short, arising at or above mid length, center lobe apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes acute, lateral ones acute.
slightly curved, 15–35 mm, subequal to calyx or beak partially to strongly exserted;
tube 15–17 mm;
beak adaxially yellowish green, 10–16 mm;
abaxial lip green, reduced, ± pouched, 0.5–1.5 mm, 4–10% as long as beak;
teeth incurved, deep green, 0.7–1 mm.
± straight, (16–)18–30 mm;
tube 10–20 mm;
teeth of abaxial lip rarely exserted, beak exserted;
beak adaxially green or yellowish, 6–12 mm;
abaxial lip green or whitish, reduced, slightly inflated, 1.5–3 mm, 25–30% as long as beak;
teeth incurved to erect, green or white, 0.5–2 mm.
mostly yellowish throughout, with a thin reddish apex, 15–27 mm;
abaxial clefts (5–)9–11 mm, adaxial 4.5–9.5 mm, clefts 25–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–4 mm, 10–20% of calyx length;
lobes linear-lanceolate to triangular, apex acute to acuminate, rarely ± obtuse.
colored as bracts, 13–23(–28) mm;
abaxial clefts (6–)8–13 mm, adaxial (5–)6–10(–11) mm, clefts (25–)35–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–4 mm, 5–25% of calyx length;
lobes triangular to lanceolate, abaxial and adaxial segments often differing in length or width, apex obtuse to acute.
= 24.
= 24, 48, 96.
Castilleja nelsonii
Castilleja septentrionalis
Castilleja nelsonii is fairly common in the upper elevations of the so-called sky island ranges from central and eastern Arizona to adjacent New Mexico, southward into the Sierra Madre Occidental, at least as far south as southern Chihuahua, where the type collection was obtained on Cerro Mohinora. Although it was long known in the United States as C. austromontana, the name C. nelsonii has priority. Some specimens from southern Coconino County, Arizona, approach C. miniata, but most material is easily separable. Castilleja nelsonii occasionally hybridizes with C. mogollonica in Apache County, Arizona, near the border of the range of the former.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Castilleja septentrionalis is one of the most widespread species in the flora area. It occurs throughout much of the Rocky Mountain region, from New Mexico northward into southern Canada and sporadically eastward to the Atlantic coast, as well as in the higher mountains and notches of New England. Rocky Mountain plants are commonly called C. sulphurea, but there is broad morphological overlap between these plants and those in New England and eastern Canada, where C. septentrionalis was first described, and they are here considered synonymous. Varietal segregates may eventually prove to be appropriate, especially in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and in southeastern Canada and the adjacent United States, but this should await a comprehensive and detailed review across the full range of the species.
The relationship of Castilleja septentrionalis with the largely alpine species, C. occidentalis, has been the subject of much discussion, but the two have discrete ranges and usually remain reasonably easy to separate. The same cannot be said for plants from the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where some specimens in relatively low-elevation, riverine flood plains and lake basins seem transitional to the boreal-arctic C. pallida.
Castilleja septentrionalis occasionally forms localized hybrid swarms with its close relatives, C. miniata and C. rhexiifolia, where the morphological boundaries between the species seem to disintegrate. However, most populations of all three species are distinct and easily recognizable, and each has a different range, despite extensive sympatry. A possible hybrid with C. linariifolia bears the name C. ×cognata Greene, and a probable hybrid with C. miniata from southern Nevada is known as C. ×porterae Cockerell.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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