Castilleja rubida |
Castilleja cusickii(synonym of Castilleja lutea) |
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little reddish Indian paintbrush, purple alpine paintbrush, purple paintbrush, Wallowa alpine paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.5–1.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, (1–)1.5–5(–6) dm; from a small, woody caudex; with a taproot or stout, branched roots. |
Stems | several, decumbent, or ascending, unbranched, hairs moderately dense, spreading, short and long, soft, eglandular and glandular. |
solitary or few to several, erect, often decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter, sometimes stiff, stipitate-glandular ones. |
Leaves | green to purple, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 0.7–3.2 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, slightly involute, 3–5-lobed, apex narrowly acute to acuminate; lobes ascending-spreading, narrowly linear to filiform, often curling, often short, apex acute or obtuse. |
green, sometimes with prominent red-purple veins, lanceolate-linear to broadly lanceolate, 2.5–4.5(–7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, (0–)3–5(–9)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes spreading-ascending, narrowly lanceolate, arising at or above mid length, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | 2.5–6 × 1–2 cm; bracts purple, deep burgundy, or lavender throughout, rarely pink or yellowish white throughout, sometimes pink or dull whitish on distal margins and apices, oblong, 3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes spreading, linear, medium length, proximal lobes arising below mid length, center lobe apex rounded to obtuse, lateral ones acute to obtuse. |
3.5–26 × 1.5–3.5 cm; bracts pale green, pale greenish yellow, or pale yellow throughout, or proximally pale green, pale greenish yellow, pale yellow, or reddish purple, distally white, yellow, pink, dull purple, or dull reddish purple, sometimes with a purple band below that, sometimes with veins darker than background color, lanceolate to oblong, 0–5(–9)-lobed; lobes ascending or spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, often short, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
Corollas | straight, 12–15 mm; tube 14–16 mm; abaxial lip and beak exserted; beak adaxially green, 5–6 mm; abaxial lip colored as distal portion of bracts, prominent, pouches 3, central one grooved, pouches not strongly inflated, 4–5 mm, 80–100% as long as beak; teeth erect, appressed to beak, colored as distal portions of bracts, 1.5–2.5 mm. |
straight, 19–25(–28) mm; tube (13–)15–20 mm; abaxial lip included, beak not or slightly exserted; beak adaxially green to yellow-green, 4–7 mm; abaxial lip yellow, prominent, inflated, 2–4.5 mm, ca. 75% as long as beak; teeth incurved to erect, white, 1.3–2.1 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, 10–12 mm; all 4 clefts subequal, 3.5–6.5 mm, 35–55% of calyx length; lobes broadly linear or linear-triangular, apex obtuse to acute. |
green, pale green, or pale yellow, lobes yellow to pale yellow, 20–30 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6.6–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–4(–4.5) mm, 0–15% of calyx length; lobes broadly rounded to triangular, apex obtuse to rounded. |
Stigmas | green. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja rubida |
Castilleja cusickii |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Rocky slopes, ledges, dry to moist gravelly flats and ridges, alpine, limestone, rarely on river cobbles at lower elevations. | Moist meadows, swales, grasslands in sagebrush steppes, occasionally to subalpine. |
Elevation | 2200–3000 m. (7200–9800 ft.) | 500–2500 m. (1600–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
OR |
ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY; AB; BC
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Discussion | Castilleja rubida is a rare alpine species endemic to a few limestone peaks in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon, entirely within the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area. It is likely derived from the C. nana complex, found in the mountains of eastern California and Nevada, but it is amply distinct. Due to its very limited range and small population numbers, C. rubida is a species of conservation concern. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja cusickii includes two morphologically distinct variants. One variant has a wider inflorescence, broader bracts, and wider bract lobes. These bracts often have highly contrasting purple veins, and some populations also have a purplish wash on the bracts. These plants have a range on the western edge of typical C. cusickii, though overlapping with more typical forms in western Idaho and adjacent northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The name C. lutea is available for these variants, and both consistent morphological differences and preliminary results from ongoing genetic research on the plants (D. C. Tank, pers. comm.) indicate its resurrection may be justified. A second variant is distinguished by a pale pink-purple wash on the bracts and a narrow distribution in the meadows of the Bear River Valley, bordering northwestern Utah and adjacent southeastern Idaho. Only bract coloration appears to distinguish this form from typical C. cusickii, and the distinctive bract coloration is only more or less consistent in these populations. Typical Castilleja cusickii appears to hybridize with C. gracillima in the Logan Valley, Grant County, Oregon. It is also reported by M. Ownbey (1959) to hybridize with C. miniata and C. rhexiifolia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 653. | FNA vol. 17, p. 600. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. lutea | |
Name authority | Piper: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 27: 398. (1900) — (as Castilleia) | Greenman: Bot. Gaz. 25: 267. (1898) — (as Castilleia) |
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