Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja organorum |
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Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush |
Organ Mountain Indian paintbrush, Organ Mountains paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 2.7–8 dm; from a small, woody caudex; with thick, woody roots. | |
Stems | several to many, erect to sprawling, usually profusely branched, including many small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs dense, retrorse, medium length, stiff, eglandular, distally spreading, long, soft, sometimes matted, very short-glandular. |
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Leaves | green, linear-lanceolate, distally sometimes broadly lanceolate, 2–4.5 cm on main branch, 0.5–1 cm on proximal part of side branches, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, sometimes flat, 0-lobed, apex acute to acuminate. |
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Inflorescences | 2–4.5(–14 in fruit) × 1.5–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally red to reddish orange, broadly lanceolate to oblong, 0(–3)-lobed; lobes ascending, lanceolate, short, arising above mid length, apex acute to obtuse. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 15–24 mm; tube 10–13 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 6–10 mm; abaxial lip green, reduced, slightly pouched, sometimes visible in front cleft, 0.5–1.5 mm, 15–20% as long as beak; teeth incurved, white or green, 0.4–0.7 mm. |
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Calyces | proximally pale green to pale yellow-green, distally pale red to red-orange above middle, 12.5–20.5 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–9 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (1.5–)3–4 mm, 20–35% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate or broadly triangular, apex acute. |
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Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja organorum |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Oct. | |
Habitat | Rocky slopes, shaded canyons, riparian zones, open conifer forests, sun or partial shade. | |
Elevation | 1500–2500 m. (4900–8200 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
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NM |
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 organorum is endemic to the Organ Mountains of Doña Ana County. Reports from the mountains of the Mogollon Rim of east-central Arizona and adjacent New Mexico are based on specimens of C. nelsonii. Castilleja organorum is grouped with C. linariifolia by some authors (for example, G. L. Nesom 1992c), but it has subequal abaxial and adaxial calyx clefts and is more likely closely related to C. integra. Castilleja organorum differs from the latter species in its loose, often profusely branched habit, more compact inflorescences, and usually smaller corollas. In Fillmore Canyon, C. integra, C. lanata, and C. organorum are all found, but each is in a different habitat, and there is no sign of hybridization. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 659. | FNA vol. 17, p. 636. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Name authority | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 22. (1839) | Standley: Muhlenbergia 5: 86. (1909) |
Web links |