Castilleja thompsonii
Castilleja cusickii
Thompson's Indian paintbrush, Thompson's owl clover, Thompson's paintbrush
Cusick's Indian paintbrush, Cusick's paintbrush
few to many, erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, hairs spreading, long, stiff, sometimes soft (especially in higher elevations), eglandular, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones.
solitary or few to several, erect, often decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter, sometimes stiff, stipitate-glandular ones.
green to purple or reddish brown, linear to narrowly oblong or linear-lanceolate, 1.4–7.4 cm, not fleshy, margins plane to ± wavy, involute or flat, 3(–7)-lobed, apex acuminate;
lobes spreading-ascending, linear, short to long moving up leaf axis, apex acute or obtuse.
green, sometimes with prominent red-purple veins, lanceolate-linear to broadly lanceolate, 2.5–4.5(–7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, (0–)3–5(–9)-lobed, apex acuminate to acute;
lobes spreading-ascending, narrowly lanceolate, arising at or above mid length, apex acute.
2.5–14 × 1–4 cm;
bracts greenish to pale yellow or reddish brown throughout, or proximally greenish to dull reddish purple, or ruddy brown, distally greenish to yellow-green or yellow, often aging dull reddish to dull purplish, lanceolate to oblong to ovate, 3–5(–9)-lobed;
lobes spreading to ascending, linear to narrowly lanceolate, long, proximal lobes arising below mid length, apex acute to obtuse.
3.5–26 × 1.5–3.5 cm;
bracts pale green, pale greenish yellow, or pale yellow throughout, or proximally pale green, pale greenish yellow, pale yellow, or reddish purple, distally white, yellow, pink, dull purple, or dull reddish purple, sometimes with a purple band below that, sometimes with veins darker than background color, lanceolate to oblong, 0–5(–9)-lobed;
lobes ascending or spreading, linear to narrowly lanceolate, often short, arising above mid length, central lobe apex rounded, lateral ones acute to rounded.
straight, 18–21 mm;
tube 11–16 mm; subequal to calyx, sometimes beak exserted;
beak adaxially green, 5–7(–8) mm;
abaxial lip white, often proximally reddish, prominent, scarcely expanded, ± cylindric, 2.5–4(–5) mm, 50–70% as long as beak, glabrous or obscurely puberulent;
teeth incurved to erect, white, 2.5 mm.
straight, 19–25(–28) mm;
tube (13–)15–20 mm;
abaxial lip included, beak not or slightly exserted;
beak adaxially green to yellow-green, 4–7 mm;
abaxial lip yellow, prominent, inflated, 2–4.5 mm, ca. 75% as long as beak;
teeth incurved to erect, white, 1.3–2.1 mm.
colored as bracts, 12–25 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 4–8 mm, 20–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (0–)1–3 mm, 7–25% of calyx length;
lobes linear, lanceolate, or triangular, apex acute, sometimes obtuse.
green, pale green, or pale yellow, lobes yellow to pale yellow, 20–30 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 6.6–14 mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–4(–4.5) mm, 0–15% of calyx length;
lobes broadly rounded to triangular, apex obtuse to rounded.
= 24, 48.
= 24.
Castilleja thompsonii
Castilleja cusickii
Castilleja thompsonii is a characteristic species of the sagebrush communities on the eastern slope of the Cascade Range in Washington, and in the high deserts of the Columbia Basin. Historically, its range approached but apparently never entered Idaho in the Spokane River valley, but much of its habitat in that area is now converted to agriculture or suburban development or overwhelmed by non-native, invasive plants. Castilleja thompsonii occurs in a few sites in the Okanogan Valley region of southern British Columbia and at one site on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range in Wasco County, Oregon. A distinctive form from the subalpine and alpine zones of Mt. Adams, in the southern Cascade Range of Washington, was named C. villicaulis. This form may merit varietal status under C. thompsonii. While both names were described in the same paper, C. thompsonii is the name used in all regional floras since their publication, after C. villicaulis was reduced to synonymy by M. Ownbey (1959).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Castilleja cusickii includes two morphologically distinct variants. One variant has a wider inflorescence, broader bracts, and wider bract lobes. These bracts often have highly contrasting purple veins, and some populations also have a purplish wash on the bracts. These plants have a range on the western edge of typical C. cusickii, though overlapping with more typical forms in western Idaho and adjacent northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The name C. lutea is available for these variants, and both consistent morphological differences and preliminary results from ongoing genetic research on the plants (D. C. Tank, pers. comm.) indicate its resurrection may be justified. A second variant is distinguished by a pale pink-purple wash on the bracts and a narrow distribution in the meadows of the Bear River Valley, bordering northwestern Utah and adjacent southeastern Idaho. Only bract coloration appears to distinguish this form from typical C. cusickii, and the distinctive bract coloration is only more or less consistent in these populations.
Typical Castilleja cusickii appears to hybridize with C. gracillima in the Logan Valley, Grant County, Oregon. It is also reported by M. Ownbey (1959) to hybridize with C. miniata and C. rhexiifolia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
CalFlora
