Castilleja thompsonii
Castilleja xanthotricha
Thompson's Indian paintbrush, Thompson's owl clover, Thompson's paintbrush
John Day or yellow-hairy paintbrush, John Day paintbrush, yellow hair paintbrush, yellow-hair Indian 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.
few to several, ± decumbent to erect or ascending, unbranched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs erect to spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with short 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, linear, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, oblong, or cuneate, 0.8–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane to wavy, involute, 0–5-lobed, apex acute, sometimes rounded;
lobes spreading, linear, arising below mid length, nearly as broad as center lobe, 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.
3–14 × 1.5–4.5 cm;
bracts proximally greenish, rarely dull reddish purple, distally white to cream, rarely pale yellow or dull, pale pink (sharply differentiated from proximal coloration), lanceolate or oblong to narrowly ovate, (3–)5–7-lobed;
lobes ascending, linear to obovate, ± broadened distally, medium, long, proximal lobes arising below mid length, central lobe apex broadly rounded to truncate, others 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.
curved, 17–23 mm;
tube 15–19 mm;
beak exserted, adaxially green, 5–8(–9) mm, puberulent, stipitate-glandular;
abaxial lip deep purple (color sometimes visible through calyx), green, pinkish, or pale yellow, ± prominent, slightly inflated, usually hidden in calyx, sometimes right at top of calyx, 2 mm, ca. 50% as long as beak;
teeth ascending, whitish, yellowish, pink, or green, 1–1.5 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.
colored as bracts, 15–26 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 3.5–7 mm, 25–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–5 mm, 12–25% of calyx length;
lobes linear, oblong, or narrowly triangular, center lobe apex usually rounded, lobes acute to rounded.
= 24, 48.
= 48.
Castilleja thompsonii
Castilleja xanthotricha
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 xanthotricha is endemic to moderate elevations in the sagebrush hills of the John Day River drainage in north-central Oregon. N. H. Holmgren (1971) hypothesized that this tetraploid species is of allopolyploid hybrid origin between C. glandulifera and C. oresbia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
BC
OR
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
