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Suksdorf's Indian paintbrush, Suksdorf's paintbrush

Labrador Indian paintbrush, northeastern paintbrush, northern or sulfur or yellow paintbrush, northern paintbrush, northern painted-cup, sulphur Indian paintbrush, sulphur paintbrush

Habit Herbs, perennial, 3–5(–8) dm; from slender, creeping rhizomes. Herbs, perennial, (1.5–)2.5–5.5(–7) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot or system of slender to stout, branched roots.
Stems

solitary, sometimes few, erect from a slender, creeping base, unbranched, glabrate or hairs spreading, long, soft to ± stiff and shorter, stipitate-glandular.

few to several, erect to ascending or ± decumbent at base, unbranched or branched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, glabrous or glabrate proximally, sometimes hairy, hairs spreading to retrorsely curved, short, ± stiff throughout, spreading, longer, soft to ± stiff distally, often glandular and short-glandular.

Leaves

green, distal sometimes red-tipped, linear-lanceolate, sometimes distal broadly lanceolate or ovate, 1.2–8.9 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat or slightly involute, 0–5(–7)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse or rounded;

lateral lobes spreading-ascending or widely spreading, linear, often much narrower than mid blade, apex acute.

green to purplish, linear-lanceolate or narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 2–7(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat to involute, prominently veined, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate;

lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, short, apex acute or obtuse.

Inflorescences

2.5–9(–11) × 2–5.5 cm;

bracts proximally greenish, distally abruptly red to orange-red, often with a yellow, rarely purplish, medial band, narrowly lanceolate to ovate, 3–7(–11)-lobed;

lobes spreading to erect, linear, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, long, arising below mid length, apex acute to obtuse.

2.1–11 × 1.5–4 cm;

bracts proximally greenish to pale yellow-green, sometimes brownish purple, distally white to cream or light yellow, sometimes light pink or buff, sometimes aging pink or reddish, broadly lanceolate to oblong or obovate, sometimes lanceolate, 0–3(–5)-lobed, sometimes with irregular teeth at apex;

lobes erect, triangular, short, arising at or above mid length, center lobe apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes acute, lateral ones acute.

Corollas

± curved, 30–50 mm;

tube 11–18 mm;

beak exserted, adaxially green, 18–20 mm;

abaxial lip deep green, reduced, 1 mm, 10% as long as beak;

teeth ascending, deep green, 1 mm.

± straight, (16–)18–30 mm;

tube 10–20 mm;

teeth of abaxial lip rarely exserted, beak exserted;

beak adaxially green or yellowish, 6–12 mm;

abaxial lip green or whitish, reduced, slightly inflated, 1.5–3 mm, 25–30% as long as beak;

teeth incurved to erect, green or white, 0.5–2 mm.

Calyces

colored as bracts, 20–30 mm;

abaxial and adaxial clefts 11–18 mm, 50–75% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 8–12 mm, 30–50% of calyx length;

lobes linear, apex acute.

colored as bracts, 13–23(–28) mm;

abaxial clefts (6–)8–13 mm, adaxial (5–)6–10(–11) mm, clefts (25–)35–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–4 mm, 5–25% of calyx length;

lobes triangular to lanceolate, abaxial and adaxial segments often differing in length or width, apex obtuse to acute.

2n

= 36.

= 24, 48, 96.

Castilleja suksdorfii

Castilleja septentrionalis

Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep. Flowering (Apr–)May–Sep.
Habitat Mesic to wet meadows, marshes, peatlands, springs, stream margins, montane to subalpine. Moist meadows, peatlands, open forests, gravel, rocky slopes, ridges, slides, lowlands to subalpine.
Elevation 1000–2200 m. (3300–7200 ft.) 0–3700 m. (0–12100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
OR; WA
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; ID; ME; MI; MN; MT; NH; NM; SD; UT; VT; WY; AB; BC; NB; NL; NT; NU; ON; QC
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Castilleja suksdorfii is endemic to wet habitats in the Cascade Range from the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area in Yakima County, Washington, south to the vicinity of Crater Lake National Park in Klamath County, Oregon. Reports of this species farther north in Washington and southern British Columbia are referable to C. rupicola. Castilleja suksdorfii is a polyploid species and may be of hybrid origin.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Castilleja septentrionalis is one of the most widespread species in the flora area. It occurs throughout much of the Rocky Mountain region, from New Mexico northward into southern Canada and sporadically eastward to the Atlantic coast, as well as in the higher mountains and notches of New England. Rocky Mountain plants are commonly called C. sulphurea, but there is broad morphological overlap between these plants and those in New England and eastern Canada, where C. septentrionalis was first described, and they are here considered synonymous. Varietal segregates may eventually prove to be appropriate, especially in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and in southeastern Canada and the adjacent United States, but this should await a comprehensive and detailed review across the full range of the species.

The relationship of Castilleja septentrionalis with the largely alpine species, C. occidentalis, has been the subject of much discussion, but the two have discrete ranges and usually remain reasonably easy to separate. The same cannot be said for plants from the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where some specimens in relatively low-elevation, riverine flood plains and lake basins seem transitional to the boreal-arctic C. pallida.

Castilleja septentrionalis occasionally forms localized hybrid swarms with its close relatives, C. miniata and C. rhexiifolia, where the morphological boundaries between the species seem to disintegrate. However, most populations of all three species are distinct and easily recognizable, and each has a different range, despite extensive sympatry. A possible hybrid with C. linariifolia bears the name C. ×cognata Greene, and a probable hybrid with C. miniata from southern Nevada is known as C. ×porterae Cockerell.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 659. FNA vol. 17, p. 656.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja Orobanchaceae > Castilleja
Sibling taxa
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. coccinea, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hispida, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. occidentalis, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. septentrionalis, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii, C. xanthotricha
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. coccinea, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hispida, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. occidentalis, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii, C. xanthotricha
Synonyms C. pallida subsp. septentrionalis, C. rhexiifolia var. sulphurea, C. sulphurea
Name authority A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 22: 311. (1887) Lindley: Bot. Reg. 11: plate 925. (1825)
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