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Castilleja xanthotricha

John Day or yellow-hairy paintbrush, John Day paintbrush, yellow hair paintbrush, yellow-hair Indian paintbrush

painted-cup, red paintbrush, scarlet Indian paintbrush, scarlet paintbrush, scarlet painted-cup

Habit Herbs, perennial, 1–2(–3.8) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. Herbs, annual or biennial, 1.2–5(–7) dm; with fibrous roots.
Stems

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.

solitary or few, erect to ascending, unbranched, rarely branched, hairs spreading, long, soft, eglandular, others shorter and glandular.

Leaves

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.

green to sometimes brownish, rosette leaves persisting or withered at anthesis, oblanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 1–3 cm, usually 0-lobed;

cauline leaves linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, 2–7(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes wavy, involute, 3–7(–9)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate;

cauline leaves: lobes spreading to ascending, linear to oblong, (2–)5–25 mm, apex acuminate.

Inflorescences

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.

2–35 (longest in fruit) × 1.5–6 cm;

bracts proximally greenish to brownish green, distally red, sometimes orange, yellow, or white, lanceolate to obovate, 3(–5)-lobed;

lobes spreading-ascending, lanceolate and longer on proximal bracts, becoming oblanceolate, shorter, and wider on distal bracts, arising from distal 3/4 of blade, apex acute to rounded.

Corollas

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.

straight, 18–31 mm;

tube 15–18 mm;

abaxial lip ± exserted, beak exserted, often whitish, yellowish, or faint dull reddish proximally, adaxially green distally, 7–10 mm;

abaxial lip green to yellowish, apex pink to yellow, reduced, ± protuberant, 1.5–4 mm, 20–33% as long as beak;

teeth erect, green or yellow, apices white, yellow, or pink, 2–4(–5) mm.

Calyces

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.

colored as bracts, 17–23(–28) mm;

abaxial clefts 6–10 mm, adaxial 5–8 mm, clefts 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–1 mm, 0–5% of calyx length;

lobes oblong to triangular, apex rounded to truncate, sometimes emarginate.

2n

= 48.

= 24, 46, 48.

Castilleja xanthotricha

Castilleja coccinea

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jul. Flowering Jan–Sep.
Habitat Arid, rocky, sandy, or clay slopes of basaltic origin, sagebrush steppes. Damp or wet meadows, roadsides, prairies, swamps, peatlands, ditches, thickets, dunes, jack pine flats, rocky forests, ledges, sandstone, limestone, or granite.
Elevation 400–800 m. (1300–2600 ft.) 0–1200 m. (0–3900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
OR
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[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; MB; ON; SK
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Castilleja coccinea usually has red bracts. Forms with white or yellow bracts have been named but are scattered across the range of the species. However, yellow-bracted forms become markedly more common in populations in the northern portion of the range, especially in the upper midwestern region. Populations of C. coccinea seem ephemeral, disappearing from one site after a few years and appearing in another. It is rare in much of the eastern portion of its range, and apparently is extirpated in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 665. FNA vol. 17, p. 598.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja Orobanchaceae > Castilleja
Sibling taxa
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. coccinea, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hispida, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. occidentalis, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. septentrionalis, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii
C. affinis, C. ambigua, C. angustifolia, C. applegatei, C. aquariensis, C. arachnoidea, C. attenuata, C. brevilobata, C. brevistyla, C. campestris, C. cervina, C. chambersii, C. chlorotica, C. christii, C. chromosa, C. chrymactis, C. chrysantha, C. cinerea, C. citrina, C. collegiorum, C. covilleana, C. crista-galli, C. cryptantha, C. cusickii, C. densiflora, C. dissitiflora, C. disticha, C. elata, C. elegans, C. elmeri, C. exserta, C. flava, C. foliolosa, C. fraterna, C. genevieveana, C. glandulifera, C. gleasoni, C. gracillima, C. grisea, C. haydenii, C. hispida, C. hololeuca, C. hyperborea, C. indivisa, C. integra, C. kaibabensis, C. kerryana, C. kraliana, C. lacera, C. lanata, C. lasiorhyncha, C. lassenensis, C. latifolia, C. lemmonii, C. leschkeana, C. levisecta, C. linariifolia, C. lindheimeri, C. lineariloba, C. lineata, C. litoralis, C. lutescens, C. martini, C. mendocinensis, C. mexicana, C. miniata, C. minor, C. mogollonica, C. mollis, C. montigena, C. nana, C. nelsonii, C. nervata, C. nivea, C. occidentalis, C. oresbia, C. organorum, C. ornata, C. pallescens, C. pallida, C. parviflora, C. parvula, C. patriotica, C. peckiana, C. peirsonii, C. pilosa, C. plagiotoma, C. praeterita, C. pruinosa, C. puberula, C. pulchella, C. purpurascens, C. purpurea, C. raupii, C. revealii, C. rhexiifolia, C. rigida, C. rubicundula, C. rubida, C. rupicola, C. salsuginosa, C. scabrida, C. schizotricha, C. septentrionalis, C. sessiliflora, C. subinclusa, C. suksdorfii, C. tenuiflora, C. tenuis, C. thompsonii, C. tomentosa, C. uliginosa, C. unalaschcensis, C. victoriae, C. viscidula, C. wightii, C. wootonii, C. xanthotricha
Synonyms Bartsia coccinea, C. ludoviciana
Name authority Pennell: Notul. Nat. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 74: 5. (1941) (Linnaeus) Sprengel: Syst. Veg. 2: 775. (1825) — (as Castilleia)
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