Castilleja pruinosa
Castilleja uliginosa
frosted Indian paintbrush, frosted paintbrush, pruinose paintbrush
Pitkin Marsh Indian paintbrush, Pitkin Marsh paintbrush
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.
several, decumbent proximally and sometimes becoming weakly rhizomatous, becoming ascending to erect, unbranched or often branched proximally, hairs spreading, short and long, soft, mixed eglandular and stipitate-glandular.
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, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, 3–5 cm, much reduced distally, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat, 0-lobed, apex acute to rounded.
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.
10–30 × 3–4 cm;
bracts pale yellow to cream throughout, or proximally pale greenish near base, distally pale yellow to cream, broadly lanceolate, 3-lobed;
lobes ascending, narrowly lanceolate, long, arising near mid length, apex narrowly acute or acuminate.
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.
slightly curved, 22–30 mm;
tube 11–15 mm;
beak partly exserted, adaxially whitish, yellowish, or greenish, 10–15 mm;
abaxial lip green, small, protuberant, 3 mm, ca. 20% as long as beak;
teeth erect to incurved, green, to 1 mm.
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.
colored as bracts, 20–25 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–14 mm, ca. 50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 5–6 mm, ca. 33% of calyx length;
lobes linear, apex acute, ciliate.
= 48.
Castilleja pruinosa
Castilleja uliginosa
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 uliginosa is endemic to Pitkin Marsh in Sonoma County. It differs from C. miniata by its uniformly pale yellow inflorescences and pubescent stems, as well as by its disjunct, low-elevation habitat. Much of its available habitat was destroyed by development, and it is apparently now extirpated from the wild. It survives in the form of tissue clones from the last wild plant, backcrossed with C. miniata by L. R. Heckard in the 1980s and maintained since then in the greenhouses at the University of California at Berkeley.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
