Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja patriotica |
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Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush |
Huachuca Mountain Indian paintbrush, native paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1.7–6 dm; from a slender, woody caudex; with a taproot. | |
Stems | few to many, erect or ascending, much-branched with many short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs recurved to retrorse, short, ± stiff, eglandular, often with some spreading, long ones. |
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Leaves | green, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1–3.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to involute, (0–)3–7-lobed, apex acute to obtuse; lateral lobes spreading, linear, much shorter and narrower than terminal lobe, apex acute. |
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Inflorescences | 3–17 × 2–7.5 cm; bracts green throughout, sometimes distalmost proximally green, distally red or red-orange on apices, lanceolate or broadly lanceolate, (0–)3–5-lobed; lobes spreading, linear or narrowly lanceolate, short, arising near or below mid length, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded, lateral ones acute. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, (24–)27–43 mm; tube 9–20 mm; beak longer than calyx, exserted through abaxial cleft, adaxially green to yellowish, 22–39 mm; abaxial lip deep green, inflated, tight, 1–2.5 mm, 5–10% as long as beak; teeth often spreading, green or white, 0.5–1.6 mm. |
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Calyces | proximal 1/3 green, distal 2/3 red to pale red-orange, rarely yellow, (17–)25–35(–40) mm; abaxial clefts 14–29 mm, 67–75% of calyx length, adaxial 2.5–7.3 mm, 5–15% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–0.3(–2) mm, 0–5% of calyx length; lobes broadly triangular, entire or shallowly cleft, segments, if present, often differing in length, apex acute, obtuse, or rounded. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja tenuiflora |
Castilleja patriotica |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Oct. | |
Habitat | Dry slopes and flats, open pine forests, ledges, mostly montane. | |
Elevation | 2000–3000 m. (6600–9800 ft.) | |
Distribution |
AZ; NM; Mexico
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AZ; NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora)
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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 patriotica is broadly distributed in the northern Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico, south to northern Durango and Sinaloa. It is replaced in central and southern Mexico by a related species, C. pectinata M. Martens & Galeotti. Castilleja patriotica reaches the Chiricahua and Huachuca mountains of southeastern Arizona and the adjacent Animas Mountains of southwestern New Mexico. A report from the Atascosa Mountains of southern Arizona needs verification. The numerous, narrow axillary leaves and the narrow leaf lobes combine to give this plant a curious frilly appearance. The narrow, widely divaricate lateral leaf lobes are unique in the flora area. Short, compact plants with smaller flowers were named C. blumeri. Castilleja patriotica has medicinal value to native peoples of the northern Sierra Madre. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 659. | FNA vol. 17, p. 642. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. blumeri, C. patriotica var. blumeri | |
Name authority | Bentham: Pl. Hartw., 22. (1839) | Fernald: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 40: 56. (1904) |
Web links |