Castilleja tenuiflora
Castilleja subinclusa
Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina Indian paintbrush, Santa Catalina paintbrush
Franciscan paint brush, longleaf Indian paintbrush
solitary or few to many, erect to ascending, often leaning on nearby shrubs (var. jepsonii), unbranched or branched, often with small, leafy axillary shoots, hairs matted to spreading, short and long, soft, mixed with short stipitate-glandular ones.
green, pale gray-green, sometimes dull reddish purple, linear to narrowly, sometimes broadly, lanceolate, 2–10.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat or involute, 0(–3)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute;
lobes spreading, linear to short-lanceolate, often arising near mid length, apex acute to obtuse.
3–30 × 1–7 cm;
bracts green or dull purple throughout, or proximally green or dull purple, distally bright red to orange-red, sometimes salmon, orange, or yellow, usually linear to lanceolate, distal sometimes broadly lanceolate to oblong or elliptic, 0(–3)-lobed;
lobes spreading to erect, linear to oblong or triangular, short or medium length, arising near or above mid length, apex acute to obtuse.
curved proximally, straight to slightly curved distally, 25–57 mm;
tube 15–29 mm;
beak subequal to or exceeding calyx but abaxial lip, beak, and often part of tube usually exserted out abaxial cleft;
beak adaxially green, yellow-green, or yellow, 13–21 mm, margins red, orange, or yellow;
abaxial lip green, yellow, reddish, blackish, or deep red-purple, reduced, protuberant, forming a platform, 1–2 mm, 5–25% as long as beak;
teeth ascending, green, purple sometimes with reddish tip, yellow, or blackish, 0.5–1 mm.
proximally pale green, rarely pale purple, distally bright red or red-orange, rarely orange or yellow, or bright red or red-orange throughout, 20–42 mm;
abaxial clefts 13–27 mm, adaxial 7–17 mm, abaxial 40–70% of calyx length, adaxial 12–33% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–7.5 mm, 0–35% of calyx length;
lobes linear to narrowly triangular, strongly curved away from stem proximally and distally obviously curved toward stem, apex acute to acuminate to obtuse.
= 24, 48, 72, 96.
Castilleja tenuiflora
Castilleja subinclusa
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.)
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora).
Castilleja subinclusa is divided into three varieties with somewhat discontinuous ranges. Identification of the varieties is often difficult when comparing only a single trait but is more easily accomplished when the characters are considered in a suite. The three varieties are also separable by range and habitat.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Corolla beaks adaxially bright yellow, sometimes greenish yellow near apex, margins yellow, rarely orange or red, strongly contrasting with color of calyces; stems and leaves greenish, sometimes dull reddish; lateral calyx clefts 0–4 mm; coastal scrub communities; coastal c California. | var. franciscana |
1. Corolla beaks adaxially green to yellow-green, rarely yellow, margins red to orange, rarely yellow, not strongly contrasting with color of calyces; stems and leaves greenish, pale gray-green, or dull reddish; lateral calyx clefts 3–7.5 mm; dry, sandy or rocky slopes, desert scrub, foothill woodlands, chaparral, brushy openings in pine-oak woods; w foothills of Sierra Nevada in c California or sw California. | → 2 |
2. Stems and leaves greenish, sometimes dull reddish; bracts (0–)3-lobed; brushy openings in pine-oak woods; mostly in w foothills of Sierra Nevada in c California. | var. subinclusa |
2. Stems usually dull reddish; leaves usually pale gray-green to ± ash-colored; bracts 0(–3)-lobed; dry, sandy or rocky slopes, desert scrub, foothill woodlands, chaparral; sw California. | var. jepsonii |
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CA
