Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja hyperborea |
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Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush |
northern Indian paintbrush, northern paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.7–2.6 dm; from a many-headed, short, woody caudex; with a taproot. | |
Stems | few, ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched, glabrate to sparsely hairy proximally, becoming densely hairy distally, proximal hairs appressed, white, short, soft, eglandular, distal hairs widely spreading to erect, white or yellowish, long to very long, soft, eglandular. |
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Leaves | green to sometimes red-brown or dull purplish, linear to linear-lanceolate, 1.5–4 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, involute, (0–)3(–5)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate; lobes linear or linear-lanceolate, laterals ± divaricate, often abruptly up-curved from plane of main leaf blade, proximals usually 33–50% as long as leaf, apex acuminate to acute. |
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Inflorescences | 2–11 × 1–2.5 cm; bracts greenish or pale yellow, rarely purplish or deep red, often with dull purplish veins on proximal bracts, or proximally greenish or pale yellow, distally whitish, yellow, or orange-yellow, proximal sometimes linear-lanceolate, distal broadly lanceolate to oblong or obovate, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, short to medium length, arising above mid length, proximal bract apex acute, distal obtuse, rounded, or truncate. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 10–22 mm; tube 8–14 mm; teeth of abaxial lip sometimes slightly exserted, beak exserted or subequal; beak adaxially green to pale yellow, 5–8 mm; abaxial lip deep yellow or green, reduced, forming a small pouch visible through front cleft, 3–5 mm, 50–75% as long as beak; teeth ascending to erect, white or yellow, 1 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, proximally often paler, usually yellow throughout, 10–20 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–14 mm, 40–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–1.5 mm, 5–15% of calyx length; lobes triangular, apex acute to rounded. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja hyperborea |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Aug(–Sep). | |
Habitat | Dry to mesic rocky tundra, slopes, ridges, barrens and meadows, openings in boreal forests, arctic to alpine. | |
Elevation | 0–2200 m. (0–7200 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
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AK; BC; NT; YT; e Asia (Russian Far East) |
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 hyperborea is widespread across boreal, alpine, and arctic habitats in western Canada and Alaska, extending into the Russian Far East. A rare form with light purple bracts was named as C. kuschei. Another form with particularly long hairs found in the Kluane Lake region of the southern Yukon was described as C. villosissima and is usually found on calcareous substrates. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 659. | FNA vol. 17, p. 614. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. kuschei, C. villosissima | |
Name authority | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 22. (1839) | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 86: 532. (1934) |
Web links |