Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Castilleja occidentalis

western Indian paintbrush, western or western yellow paintbrush, western paintbrush
Habit Herbs, perennial, 0.7–2(–3) dm; from a small, woody caudex; with a taproot.
Stems

several to many, erect or ascending, usually short-decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes glabrous proximally, hairs spreading, long, soft, mixed with medium length to short stipitate-glandular ones only in inflorescence.
Leaves

green to deep purple, linear-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate (to linear on sterile shoots), 1.5–4(–5.5) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, prominently veined, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acute to rounded;

lobes ascending, lanceolate, apex acute.
Inflorescences

2–7(–10) × 1–3.5 cm;

bracts greenish to pale greenish yellow throughout, often aging dull reddish brown or reddish purple proximally, rarely dull reddish brown throughout, or proximally green, dull reddish brown, or reddish purple, distally greenish white, yellow, or cream, broadly lanceolate to widely oblong to ovate, 0–3(–7)-lobed;

lobes ascending, triangular to lanceolate, medium length, usually arising at or above mid length, rarely just below, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded, others acute.
Corollas

straight, 16–25 mm;

tube 9–15 mm;

teeth and part of abaxial lip sometimes exserted, beak exserted;

beak adaxially green, (2.5–)5–9 mm;

abaxial lip green, reduced, often visible through abaxial cleft, slightly pouched, 1.5–3 mm, 25–50% as long as beak;

teeth incurved to ascending, white, sometimes green, 0.7–2 mm.
Calyces

proximally green to purple, distally colored as bracts, 12–20 mm;

abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–9(–10) mm, 40–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–3(–4.5) mm, 5–20% of calyx length;

lobes lanceolate to triangular, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded.
2n

= 24, 48.

Castilleja occidentalis
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat Meadows, gravel slopes, talus, ridges, mostly upper subalpine to alpine.
Elevation 1500–4300 m. (4900–14100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; MT; NM; UT; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Castilleja occidentalis has a wide distribution in the southern Rocky Mountains, a gap in its distribution in Wyoming, and reappears in Montana and the Canadian Rockies. Bract lobing and color vary considerably but without correlation to geography. Although C. occidentalis resembles an alpine form of C. septentrionalis, C. occidentalis is missing in several regions in the distribution of the latter, even when extensive areas of suitable habitat are available, and has a discrete range.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 635.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja
Sibling taxa
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. coccinea, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hispida, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. septentrionalis, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii, C. xanthotricha
Name authority Torrey: Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York 2: 230. (1827)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers