Castilleja ambigua var. meadii |
Castilleja ambigua |
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Mead's johnny-nip, Mead's owl's-clover |
estuarine paintbrush, johnny-nip, owl-clover paintbrush, paint-brush owl-clover, paintbrush, paintbrush owl's-clover |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, sometimes biennial, 0.6–3.5 dm; with fibrous roots. | |||||||||||||
Stems | erect, unbranched, sometimes with a few divaricate-ascending branches from proximal 1/2 of stem above base. |
few to many, sometimes solitary (var. meadii), ascending or erect, often decumbent proximally, unbranched or branched above base, hairs sparse to moderately dense, spreading, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with short stipitate-glandular hairs. |
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Leaves | linear or linear-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1 mm wide at base, not fleshy, apex acuminate. |
green or brownish in upland forms, linear-lanceolate to widely lanceolate, linear, elliptic, obovate, or oblong, rarely ovate or cup-shaped, (0.6–)0.8–5 cm, fleshy or not, margins plane, flat, 3–5(–7)-lobed, apex rounded to obtuse or acuminate, abaxial surface often stipitate-glandular, adaxial sometimes shiny, glabrous; lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, apex acute or obtuse. |
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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. |
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Inflorescences | 1.5–9(–13) × 1–4 cm; bracts proximally green, rarely brownish purple, distally white, cream, pink, or purple on apices, lanceolate, oblong, or ovate, (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed; lobes ascending or divaricate-ascending, oblong to linear, short to long, arising below or above mid length, central lobe apex usually rounded to truncate, others acute to obtuse. |
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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. |
straight, 14–24 mm; tube 11–21 mm, expanded distally; abaxial lip and beak usually exserted, beak straight or slightly curved, adaxially white, yellow, or pink, sometimes green or purplish, (1–)4–7 mm, sparsely to densely short-hairy; abaxial lip pale to bright yellow, sometimes becoming pink, orange, or red after anthesis, with red-brown or purple spots at base of each tooth and sometimes at base of each pouch, conspicuous, pouches 3, ± prominent, divergent, saccate, 2–7 × 3–7 mm, (33–)60–75(–90)% as long as beak; teeth erect, sometimes spreading, white, pink, purple, or green, often with whitish bases, 1–3 mm. |
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Calyces | with all 4 clefts subequal or lateral clefts shallower; lateral clefts 2–3 mm, 25% of calyx length. |
green to pale yellowish green or tipped with white or purple, 8–23 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 5–9 mm, 33–50(–67)% of calyx length, lateral 2–5.5 mm, 20–40% of calyx length; lobes linear or narrowly lanceolate to oblong or ± triangular, apex acuminate or narrowly acute to obtuse or rounded. |
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Filaments | glabrous. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja ambigua var. meadii |
Castilleja ambigua |
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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 |
CA |
CA; OR; WA; BC
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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.) |
Varieties 4 (4 in the flora). Castilleja ambigua is a complex species, treated here with four varieties, though many localized variations exist among populations, and these are still incompletely understood. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 586. | FNA vol. 17, p. 584. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||
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Name authority | J. M. Egger & Ruygt: Phytoneuron 2012-68: 2, figs. 1, 3–7, 9[left]. (2012) | Hooker & Arnott: Bot. Beechey Voy., 154. (1833) | ||||||||||||
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