Castilleja puberula |
Castilleja ambigua |
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alpine paintbrush, short-flower paintbrush, shortflower Indian paintbrush |
estuarine paintbrush, johnny-nip, owl-clover paintbrush, paint-brush owl-clover, paintbrush, paintbrush owl's-clover |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–1.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, annual, sometimes biennial, 0.6–3.5 dm; with fibrous roots. | ||||||||||||
Stems | few to several, erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs retrorse, short, soft, eglandular. |
few to many, sometimes solitary (var. meadii), ascending or erect, often decumbent proximally, unbranched or branched above base, hairs sparse to moderately dense, spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with short stipitate-glandular hairs. |
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Leaves | 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. |
green or brownish in upland forms, linear-lanceolate to widely lanceolate, linear, elliptic, obovate, or oblong, rarely ovate or cup-shaped, (0.6–)0.8–5 cm, fleshy or not, margins plane, flat, 3–5(–7)-lobed, apex rounded to obtuse or acuminate, abaxial surface often stipitate-glandular, adaxial sometimes shiny, glabrous; lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, apex acute or obtuse. |
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Inflorescences | 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. |
1.5–9(–13) × 1–4 cm; bracts proximally green, rarely brownish purple, distally white, cream, pink, or purple on apices, lanceolate, oblong, or ovate, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes ascending or divaricate-ascending, oblong to linear, short to long, arising below or above mid length, central lobe apex usually rounded to truncate, others acute to obtuse. |
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Corollas | 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. |
straight, 14–24 mm; tube 11–21 mm, expanded distally; abaxial lip and beak usually exserted, beak straight or slightly curved, adaxially white, yellow, or pink, sometimes green or purplish, (1–)4–7 mm, sparsely to densely short-hairy; abaxial lip pale to bright yellow, sometimes becoming pink, orange, or red after anthesis, with red-brown or purple spots at base of each tooth and sometimes at base of each pouch, conspicuous, pouches 3, ± prominent, divergent, saccate, 2–7 × 3–7 mm, (33–)60–75(–90)% as long as beak; teeth erect, sometimes spreading, white, pink, purple, or green, often with whitish bases, 1–3 mm. |
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Calyces | 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. |
green to pale yellowish green or tipped with white or purple, 8–23 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–9 mm, 33–50(–67)% of calyx length, lateral 2–5.5 mm, 20–40% of calyx length; lobes linear or narrowly lanceolate to oblong or ± triangular, apex acuminate or narrowly acute to obtuse or rounded. |
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Filaments | glabrous. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Castilleja puberula |
Castilleja ambigua |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Jul–Aug. | |||||||||||||
Habitat | Moist meadows, stream banks, mesic rocky slopes, tundra, subalpine and alpine. | |||||||||||||
Elevation | 2700–3900 m. (8900–12800 ft.) | |||||||||||||
Distribution |
CO; MT
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CA; OR; WA; BC
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Discussion | 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.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Castilleja ambigua is a complex species, treated here with four varieties, though many localized variations exist among populations, and these are still incompletely understood. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 648. | FNA vol. 17, p. 584. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | ||||||||||||
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Name authority | Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 31: 644. (1905) | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 154. (1833) | ||||||||||||
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