Castilleja nivea |
Castilleja gleasoni |
|
---|---|---|
snow Indian paintbrush, snow paintbrush, snowy paintbrush |
Mount Gleason paintbrush, Mt. Gleason paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–1.6 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 3–8 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | few to several, erect to ascending, decumbent at base, unbranched except for small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs weakly spreading to appressed, ± matted, especially distally on stem, fairly short and sparse proximally, longer and denser distally, soft, eglandular, becoming woolly, often obscuring surface. |
several to many, erect to ascending, branched, sometimes unbranched, hairs moderately dense, spreading, ± matted, ash gray, branched, sometimes unbranched, medium length, soft, often mixed with shorter, unbranched, stipitate-glandular ones, not obscuring surface. |
Leaves | gray with hairs, surface green to purple, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1–3.8 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, involute, 0–3-lobed, apex acute; lobes ascending-spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse. |
ash gray, linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong or narrowly oblanceolate, 2–6 cm, not fleshy, margins wavy, involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to obtuse; lobes spreading, narrowly lanceolate, apex acute to obtuse. |
Inflorescences | 2.5–6 × 1–2.5 cm; bracts greenish to pale yellow-green or very pale, dull purplish throughout, lanceolate to oblong, (0–)3(–5)-lobed; lobes usually ascending, linear, medium length to long, arising near mid length, apex acute. |
10–15(–30) cm; bracts proximally greenish to dull brownish purple, distally red to deep red or red-orange, lanceolate to oblong or narrowly ovate, (0–)3(–5)-lobed; lobes ascending to spreading, narrowly oblong to narrowly lanceolate, medium length, arising below mid length, center lobe apex obtuse or toothed, lateral ones acute. |
Corollas | straight, 18–25 mm; tube 3.5–5.5 mm; subequal to calyx, or beak and sometimes abaxial lip exserted; beak adaxially yellow, 6–8 mm, hairs moderately long, matted on midline, very short-glandular on sides; abaxial lip green, inconspicuous, slightly pouched, 3.5–5.5 mm, 60–90% as long as beak; teeth erect, white or yellow, 0.5–3 mm. |
± straight, 18–30 mm; tube 9–15 mm; beak exserted, adaxially yellow, 9–15(–20) mm; abaxial lip spreading, deep green to ± black, reduced, 0.5–2 mm, 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, 0.2–1 mm. |
Calyces | yellow, color mostly obscured by whitish hairs, 15–22 mm; abaxial, adaxial, and lateral clefts (5.5–)7–12 mm, 35–55% of calyx length, often appearing shorter because matted hairs stitch proximal part of clefts shut, all 4 clefts subequal; lobes broadly linear, apex acute. |
proximally pale to green, sometimes dull purple, often paler or greener than bracts, distal 1/4 or less colored as bract lobes, 12–17 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 3–8 mm, 40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–3 mm, 20–25% of calyx length; lobes ovate to narrowly triangular, apex obtuse to acute. |
2n | = 24. |
= 72. |
Castilleja nivea |
Castilleja gleasoni |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug. | Flowering May–Jun. |
Habitat | Gravelly slopes and flats, turf and fellfields, mostly alpine. | Ledges, rocky slopes, open yellow pine forests, montane chaparral or sagebrush. |
Elevation | 1700–3600 m. (5600–11800 ft.) | 900–2200 m. (3000–7200 ft.) |
Distribution |
MT; WY
|
CA |
Discussion | Castilleja nivea is endemic to alpine habitats in the mountains of northwestern Wyoming and adjacent Montana. It forms occasional hybrids with C. pulchella, which often shares its habitat, as on the Beartooth Plateau in northwestern Wyoming. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja gleasoni is an uncommon plant endemic to the upper elevations of the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County. It was treated as a polyploid derivative of C. affinis var. affinis (as subsp. affinis) × C. foliolosa (T. I. Chuang and L. R. Heckard 1993b), a hypothetical ancestry supported by a chromosome number of 2n = 72. Others have placed it as a subspecies of C. pruinosa, a similar species. However, the morphology of C. gleasoni also suggests it could have originated as a cross between the diploid C. foliolosa and a tetraploid form of C. martini; careful morphological and molecular analyses are needed to determine its true ancestry. Castilleja gleasoni is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 634. | FNA vol. 17, p. 610. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. pruinosa subsp. gleasoni | |
Name authority | Pennell & Ownbey: Notul. Nat. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 227: 2. (1950) | Elmer: Bot. Gaz. 39: 51. (1905) — (as Castilleia) |
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