Castilleja thompsonii |
Castilleja purpurea |
|
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Thompson's Indian paintbrush, Thompson's owl clover, Thompson's paintbrush |
downy Indian paintbrush, prairie paintbrush, purplish paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, perennial, 0.8–4 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1.5–3(–4) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | 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. |
few to many, erect to ascending, branched, sometimes unbranched, hairs fairly dense, spreading to appressed, white, fairly short, soft, ± felty, eglandular, sometimes mixed sparsely with short stipitate-glandular ones, sometimes obscuring surface. |
Leaves | 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 to purple, linear to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 2–7(–9) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes slightly wavy, involute, 3–7-lobed, apex narrowly acute to rounded; lobes spreading, linear, apex obtuse or acute. |
Inflorescences | 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. |
2.6–16 × 2–4 cm; bracts proximally greenish to deep greenish purple, distally purple, magenta, reddish, pink, or rose, rarely white, cream, light yellow, or dull orangish, proximal linear to lanceolate, distal oblong, 3–7(–9)-lobed; lobes spreading to ascending, linear to oblanceolate, long, arising from distal 2/3, center lobe apex obtuse to rounded, lateral ones acute to rounded. |
Corollas | 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. |
slightly curved, 25–40 mm; tube 16–22 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 9–18 mm; abaxial lip green to purple-red, reduced, not strongly pouched, ± protruding, 4–5 mm, 33–50% as long as beak; teeth prominent, petaloid, spreading to erect, colored as in distal portion of bracts, 3–4 mm. |
Calyces | 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. |
colored as bracts, (20–)25–34 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (10–)13–22 mm, 50–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 7–16 mm, 35–45% of calyx length; lobes broadly linear to long-triangular or oblong, apex acute to obtuse. |
2n | = 24, 48. |
|
Castilleja thompsonii |
Castilleja purpurea |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Aug(–Sep). | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Dry slopes, ridges, scabland lithosol soils, meadows, sagebrush steppes, valleys, montane to alpine. | Rocky slopes, ledges, prairies, woodlands, thickets, roadsides, often sandy or limy soils. |
Elevation | 200–2100 m. (700–6900 ft.) | 200–600 m. (700–2000 ft.) |
Distribution |
OR; WA; BC
|
KS; MO; OK; TX
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Discussion | 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 purpurea is a common species of eastern Oklahoma and central Texas, with a few records from adjacent southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri. It often provides beautiful, multicolored displays in the meadows within its range. Castilleja citrina and C. lindheimeri are closely related species sometimes regarded as varieties of C. purpurea. Hybrids and hybrid swarms between C. indivisa and C. purpurea have been observed at some localities where they are sympatric. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 661. | FNA vol. 17, p. 649. |
Parent taxa | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja | Orobanchaceae > Castilleja |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | C. villicaulis | Euchroma purpurea, C. williamsii |
Name authority | Pennell: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 99: 178. (1947) — (as thompsoni) | (Nuttall) G. Don: Gen. Hist. 4: 615. 1837/1838 |
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