Castilleja plagiotoma |
Castilleja scabrida |
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Mojave desert paintbrush, Mojave Indian paintbrush, Mojave paintbrush |
rough Indian paintbrush, rough paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 2.3–5.3(–6) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.7–1.5(–2.2) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot or stout, branched roots. | ||||
Stems | several, erect to weakly ascending, often leaning on nearby shrubs, much-branched, often with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs sparse, spreading, short or long, soft, branched or unbranched, eglandular. |
several, decumbent, often sprawling, distally ascending, unbranched unless injured, rarely with small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, whitish, short, ± stiff, eglandular. |
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Leaves | gray-green or green to purple to ± deep red, linear or linear-lanceolate, 2–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane to ± wavy, flat or involute, 3–5(–7)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes spreading-ascending, sometimes widely so, narrowly linear, apex acute or obtuse. |
gray-green, sometimes green or reddish purple, reduced and scalelike on proximal 10–25% of stem, linear, lanceolate, or narrowly elliptic, 1.5–4(–5) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat or involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acute; lobes spreading or spreading-ascending, linear or lanceolate, apex acute. |
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Inflorescences | 3–20 × 0.5–1.5 cm; bracts green throughout, sometimes tinged dull purple, proximal sometimes linear-lanceolate, distal or all bracts oblong, 3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading to ascending, linear to oblanceolate, short to long, proximal lobes arising near mid length, sometimes wavy-margined, central lobe apex rounded to truncate, lateral ones obtuse to rounded. |
2.5–10 × 2.5–5 cm; bracts proximally green to deep greenish purple, distally bright red, sometimes brick red or orange-red, linear to lanceolate, 3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, sometimes expanded near tip, long, arising near base and more distally, apex acute to obtuse. |
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Corollas | straight, 13–20 mm; tube 5–7 mm; beak short-exserted, sometimes shorter than abaxial calyx segments, adaxially yellow, rarely greenish, 7–10 mm; abaxial lip pale green to yellowish, reduced, 0.5–1.5 mm, 7–17% as long as beak; teeth reduced to apiculations, pale green to yellowish, 0.5–0.8 mm. |
straight or slightly curved, 25–40(–45) mm; tube 11–24 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green to yellow, 10–17(–20) mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, visible through front cleft, 1.5–2.5 mm, 10–15% as long as beak; teeth incurved, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
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Calyces | light green, cream, or light yellow, often appearing white from dense white-woolly pubescence, 10–18 mm; abaxial clefts 5–6.5 mm, closed by intertwined hairs and appearing 2 mm deep, adaxial 2.2–4.2 mm, abaxial ca. 25% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 20% of calyx length, shallower (or appearing much shallower), than laterals, lateral 4.6–7.5 mm, ca. 50% of calyx length; lobes: abaxial segments broad, paddle-shaped, 7 mm, inner surface of abaxial segments densely white-woolly, apex rounded to broadly obtuse, adaxial narrowly triangular, 5 mm, apex acute. |
colored as bracts, 18–33 mm; abaxial clefts 6–12 mm, adaxial 8–15 mm, clefts 40–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–6 mm, 15–25% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate or narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja plagiotoma |
Castilleja scabrida |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jul. | |||||
Habitat | Dry flats, rocky, sandy, or clayey slopes, ridges, sagebrush steppes, chaparral, desert scrub, pinyon woodlands. | |||||
Elevation | 200–2500 m. (700–8200 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
CA
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AZ; CO; NM; NV; UT
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Discussion | Castilleja plagiotoma is unique in the genus in the structure of its calyces, with the lateral clefts deeper than the median clefts. The relative lengths of the calyx lobes are also unique, with the abaxial lobes exceeding the adaxial lobes by 2–3 mm. The abaxial lobes also bear a dense indument of whitish, branched hairs. The uniformly greenish bracts are uncommon among perennial species of Castilleja. Castilleja plagiotoma is scattered in the western Mojave Desert and the hills adjacent to the southwestern San Joaquin Valley, California. While not of immediate conservation concern, this species is uncommon and increasingly threatened by recreational vehicles, livestock grazing, residential development, and resource extraction. Castilleja plagiotoma is most often associated with and is likely parasitic on Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium, but it is also often observed with Artemisia tridentata or other species. It is a known larval host plant for the butterfly, Euphydryas editha subsp. erlichii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Castilleja scabrida consists of two varieties distinguished by range and habitat differences, as well as by the morphological characters of the key. Both varieties are often confused with the similar and broadly sympatric C. chromosa but can be differentiated from the latter most easily by the presence of scalelike vestigial leaves on the proximal stems of C. scabrida. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 646. | FNA vol. 17, p. 654. | ||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 19: 93. (1883) — (as Castilleia) | Eastwood: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 29: 523. (1902) — (as Castilleia) | ||||
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