Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja mogollonica |
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Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush |
Mogollon or White Mountains paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 2.5–5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | |
Stems | few to several, ascending to erect, unbranched or branched distally, sometimes with a few small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular. |
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Leaves | green to purple-tinged, sometimes purple, narrowly to broadly lanceolate, 2.5–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat, 0(–5)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes ascending-spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute. |
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Inflorescences | 3–15 × 2–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally yellow-green, green, pale yellow, cream, or pale orange, often tinged with bright orange along margins, aging dull pink, broadly lanceolate to oblong or obovate, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes ascending to erect, linear to narrowly lanceolate, medium length, arising above or below mid length, central lobe apex rounded to obtuse, lateral ones usually acute. |
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Corollas | straight, (15–)17–27 mm; tube 11–12 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 9–10 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, visible in front cleft, 0.5–2 mm, 10–20% as long as beak; teeth incurved to erect, green, 0.5–1 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, 13–20 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–9 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 1–2 mm, 7–25% of calyx length; lobes oblong, apex acute to rounded. |
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2n | = 24, 48. |
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Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja mogollonica |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Sep. | |
Habitat | Subalpine wet meadows and springs, mixed conifer forests, volcanic soils. | |
Elevation | 2600–2900 m. (8500–9500 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
|
AZ |
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 mogollonica is endemic to the Mogollon Rim in the White Mountains of Apache County. It is frequently confused with the widespread C. septentrionalis but is amply distinct therefrom. This species faces threats from grazing, road building, and recreational activities. It occasionally hybridizes with C. nelsonii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 659. | FNA vol. 17, p. 632. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 22. (1839) | Pennell: Notul. Nat. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 237: 1. (1951) |
Web links |