Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja brevistyla |
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Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush |
short-style owl's-clover, shortstyle Indian paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, (0.6–)1–4.3 dm; with fibrous roots. | |
Stems | solitary or few, erect, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, short and long, soft and stiff, eglandular. |
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Leaves | green to purplish, linear to linear-lanceolate, (0.8–)2–6(–8.7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, 3–5-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, long, apex acuminate to rounded. |
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Inflorescences | 5–25 (longer in fruit) × 1–2 cm; bracts proximally greenish to dull reddish brown, distally pink, lavender, magenta, purple-red, or white on apices, narrowly lanceolate, (3–)5-lobed; lobes ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate with slightly widened apices, medium length to long, arising near or below mid length, apex acute. |
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Corollas | straight, 15–30 mm; tube 14–23 mm, not expanded distally, majority of it exserted from calyx; beak straight, adaxially white or pink (drying purple), 4–6 mm, pubescent; abaxial lip ± inconspicuous, exserted, pouches 3, 2 mm wide, 1–1.5 mm deep, 3–5 mm, 50–70% as long as beak, white, yellow, or pink with large deep purple, red, or brown spot on each pouch at or extending below middle; teeth erect, white, yellow, or pink, 1–1.5 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, sometimes proximally yellow, 15–20 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–9.5 mm, abaxial ca. 33% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 66% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 3–5.5 mm, 33% of calyx length; lobes ± linear, slender, all 4 similar, apex acute. |
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Filaments | glabrous. |
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2n | = 48. |
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Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja brevistyla |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | |
Habitat | Arid grasslands in hilly country, sagebrush or alkaline flats. | |
Elevation | 50–1200 m. (200–3900 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
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CA
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Discussion | Varieties 3 (1 in the flora). Castilleja tenuiflora is common and widespread across the mountains of Mexico, especially in pine-oak-madrone communities at middle elevations, as far south as Oaxaca, where it is found west and north of the Tehuantepec lowlands. There are two varieties of C. tenuiflora endemic to Mexico, while the typical variety crosses into the mountains of southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. Considerable local and regional variation exists in C. tenuiflora, but most of this appears to be racial in nature, and additional named varieties are likely not justified. While also commonly herbaceous, C. tenuiflora often forms large, multi-stemmed, subshrub plants with a woody base and ascending to strongly erect and often branched stems. It is valued in Mexican traditional medicine and is under study for potentially useful compounds (M. Jiménez et al. 1995; P. M. Sanchez et al. 2013). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja brevistyla is endemic to the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada and the southern reaches of the Inner South Coast Ranges, in Kern and adjacent counties. It often grows with other annuals, including C. attenuata, C. densiflora, and C. exserta. The similar C. attenuata has three-lobed bracts and leaves, while C. brevistyla has mostly five-lobed parts, and also differs in corolla structure and spotting. Hybrids between C. brevistyla and C. exserta are known from Kern County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 659. | FNA vol. 17, p. 591. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Orthocarpus brevistylus | |
Name authority | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 22. (1839) | (Hoover) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 656. (1991) |
Web links |