Castilleja pruinosa |
Castilleja puberula |
|
---|---|---|
frosted Indian paintbrush, frosted paintbrush, pruinose paintbrush |
alpine paintbrush, short-flower paintbrush, shortflower Indian paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs to subshrubs, perennial, (1.2–)2–8 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–1.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | several to many, erect or ascending, branched or unbranched, sometimes with inconspicuous, short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs ± dense, spreading to appressed, whitish or ashy gray, long, soft, much-branched, rarely unbranched, eglandular or obscurely glandular. |
few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs retrorse, short, soft, eglandular. |
Leaves | green, linear-lanceolate to narrowly or broadly lanceolate, 2–8 cm, not fleshy, margins plane to sometimes wavy, flat or involute, 0-lobed, sometimes 3–5-lobed distally, apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes acute; lobes sometimes divergent, ascending-spreading, linear, apex acute. |
green to purple, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2–3.3 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending-spreading to widely spreading, narrowly linear, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 3–20 × 1.5–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally abruptly red, sometimes yellow, salmon, or orange-red, often with a narrow yellow medial band, lanceolate, broadly lanceolate, or oblong, 0–5-lobed; lobes spreading to ascending, linear, long, arising near mid length, apex obtuse to acute. |
4–5 × 1.5–2.5 cm; bracts greenish throughout, or proximally greenish, distally bright yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-orange on apices, narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 0–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading, filiform to linear, long, proximal lobes arising in proximal 1/2, apex acute to acuminate. |
Corollas | slightly curved, 20–51 mm; tube 12–21 mm; beak long-exserted, adaxially green, yellow, or red, 12–33 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, 1–2.5 mm, ca. 10% as long as beak; teeth incurved to erect, white, yellow, or green, 0.5–2 mm. |
straight or slightly curved, 18–21 mm; tube 13–15 mm; beak exserted, adaxially yellow to yellow-green, 6–8 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, visible in front cleft, slightly pouched, 2.5–3.5 mm, 35–60% as long as beak; teeth erect, yellow, 1 mm. |
Calyces | proximally green to yellow, distally and abruptly colored as in distal bracts, often with a central yellow band, 13–28 mm; abaxial clefts 5–13 mm, adaxial 8–14 mm, clefts 33–70% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 3–9 mm, 20–25% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate to triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
light green to yellowish, margins sometimes yellow, 10–17 mm; abaxial clefts 8–9 mm, adaxial 2–3 mm, abaxial ca. 50% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 20% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.9–2.5 mm, 12–20% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
2n | = 48. |
= 24. |
Castilleja pruinosa |
Castilleja puberula |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Aug. | Flowering (Feb–)Jul–Aug. |
Habitat | Dry flats, rocky slopes, talus, thickets, open forests and forest edges, usually over serpentine. | Moist meadows, stream banks, mesic rocky slopes, tundra, subalpine and alpine. |
Elevation | 50–2600 m. (200–8500 ft.) | 2700–3900 m. (8900–12800 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
|
CO; MT
|
Discussion | Castilleja pruinosa is a common and variable paintbrush at moderate elevations in the southern half of the Cascade Range, occurring westward in Oregon and in adjacent northwestern California. It is also found in the northern Sierra Nevada. The often dense pubescence of branched hairs distinguishes it from other similar species within its range. Castilleja gleasoni was sometimes included within C. pruinosa, but C. gleasoni is likely of hybrid origin and occurs only in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California. There are significant morphological differences between C. gleasoni and C. pruinosa. Castilleja pruinosa forms occasional hybrids with C. applegatei var. pinetorum and with C. brevilobata. In some populations in Douglas and eastern Lane counties, Oregon, C. pruinosa forms introgressive swarms with C. hispida var. hispida. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja puberula is a near-endemic of alpine communities in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Larimer, and Park counties. A highly disjunct population occurs near the summit of Mt. Jefferson on the Continental Divide in Beaverhead County, Montana. Castilleja puberula appears to be a high-elevation isolate from the widespread C. flava, which is common at lower elevations in the Intermountain Region. A single case of hybridization with C. septentrionalis is known from Clear Creek County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 647. | FNA vol. 17, p. 648. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Fernald: Erythea 6: 50. (1898) — (as Castilleia) | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 31: 644. (1905) |
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