Flora of North America species comparison

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Castilleja ambigua var. meadii
Photo is of parent taxon

Mead's johnny-nip, Mead's owl's-clover
Stems

erect, unbranched, sometimes with a few divaricate-ascending branches from proximal 1/2 of stem above base.
Leaves

linear or linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1 mm wide at base, not fleshy, apex acuminate.
Bracts

proximally pale greenish, distally white on lobe apices, often becoming entirely greenish with age;

lobes divaricate-ascending, linear, 8–14 mm, usually arising below mid length.
Corollas

14–21 mm;

beak pale, off-white, pale yellow, green with margins off-white, or yellow, sometimes orange, 1–4 mm;

abaxial lip pale yellow;

teeth white to green.
Calyces

with all 4 clefts subequal or lateral clefts shallower;

lateral clefts 2–3 mm, 25% of calyx length.

Castilleja ambigua var. meadii
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun(–Jul).
Habitat Seasonally wet meadows with volcanic substrates in oak-pine woodlands or chaparral, shallow vernal pools, ephemeral stream margins.
Elevation 400–500 m. (1300–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety meadii is limited to vernally wet habitats, growing over rocks of the Sonoma Volcanic Formation in central Napa County near Atlas Peak. All known populations are under private ownership, and the variety is of conservation concern due to its very limited range. For the present, all populations except one are protected by conservation easements. Variety meadii often grows alongside, but does not hybridize with, Castilleja attenuata and C. densiflora. Ongoing study of annual species of Castilleja suggests this variety is genetically distinctive and may deserve full species status (S. J. Jacobs et al. 2018).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 586.
Parent taxa Orobanchaceae > Castilleja > Castilleja ambigua
Sibling taxa
C. ambigua var. ambigua, C. ambigua var. humboldtiensis, C. ambigua var. insalutata
Name authority J. M. Egger & Ruygt: Phytoneuron 2012-68: 2, figs. 1, 3–7, 9[left]. (2012)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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