Castilleja scabrida
Castilleja mexicana
rough Indian paintbrush, rough paintbrush
Mexican Indian paintbrush, Mexican paintbrush
several, decumbent, often sprawling, distally ascending, unbranched unless injured, rarely with small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, whitish, short, ± stiff, eglandular.
solitary or few, erect to erect-ascending, sometimes slightly curved at base, branched at base or unbranched, hairs spreading, long, stiff to soft, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.
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.
brown or purplish, sometimes green, linear to narrowly oblong, 1–5 cm, not fleshy, margins wavy, mostly involute, to flat, 3–5-lobed, apex acute;
lobes spreading, linear, apex acute to obtuse.
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.
2–17 × 1.5–6.5 cm;
bracts greenish throughout, narrowly lanceolate (ovate in outline), 3–5(–7)-lobed;
lobes spreading, linear to narrowly oblong, long, arising from 1/3–2/3 blade length, wavy-margined, apex rounded or obtuse to acute.
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.
straight proximally, conspicuously decurved distally, 35–60 mm;
tube 26–46 mm;
abaxial lip, beak, and majority of tube exserted;
beak yellow to yellowish green, sometimes purplish tipped or drying pinkish, 9–15 mm;
abaxial lip light yellow to whitish, prominent, not inflated, 4–8 mm, 50–75% as long as beak;
teeth spreading-ascending, yellowish, 3–6 mm.
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.
proximally brownish green, purplish, or green, lobes tipped with same color as bracts, 18–28 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1.5–6 mm, 8–20% of calyx length;
lobes lanceolate to narrowly triangular, abaxials wider than adaxials, apex acute.
= 24.
= 24.
Castilleja scabrida
Castilleja mexicana
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.)
Castilleja mexicana occurs in the northern third of Mexico and reaches the flora area only in southwestern Texas. Its conspicuous corollas can be either yellow or, less commonly, white. In both cases, the flowers turn soft pink-purple with age. Texas populations of this species are yellow flowered, and the white-flowered morph appears to occur only in northeastern Mexico. There is some indication of additional morphological differences between these color morphs that may justify varietal segregation. Castilleja mexicana is sometimes confused with the closely related C. sessiliflora, due to their conspicuous, distally curved, usually strongly exserted corollas, but the two species remain distinct.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf lobes lanceolate, sometimes linear-lanceolate; stems and leaves appearing grayish; substrates sandstone or clay. | var. scabrida |
1. Leaf lobes linear; stems and leaves greenish, rarely reddish purple to grayish green; substrates calcareous. | var. barnebyana |
CalFlora
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
