Castilleja attenuata |
Castilleja leschkeana |
|
---|---|---|
attenuate Indian paintbrush, attenuate paintbrush, narrow-leaf owl's-clover, narrow-leaf owl-clover, narrow-leaf paintbrush, valley-tassels |
Leschke's paintbrush |
|
Habit | Herbs, annual, 1–4.5 dm; with fibrous roots. | Herbs, perennial, 10 dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. |
Stems | solitary, erect to ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched from base, hairs spreading, short and medium, ± stiff, eglandular. |
several, erect, decumbent at base, unbranched proximally, branched distally, glabrous proximally, hairy distally, hairs sparse, short, stiff. |
Leaves | green to purple-tinged, linear to linear-lanceolate, (1–)2–8 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, flat, 0(–5)-lobed, apex acuminate; lobes spreading to ascending, filiform to lanceolate, apex sometimes acuminate. |
green, proximal linear, reduced, middle and distal lanceolate to narrowly elliptic or ovate, proximal 0.5–1.5 cm, middle 6–7 cm (0.8–1.5 cm wide), distal 4–6 cm (2.5–2.3 cm wide), not fleshy, margins plane to sometimes ± wavy, ± involute, 0–3-lobed, apex acute; lobes ascending, lanceolate, apex acute or acuminate. |
Inflorescences | (1.5–)2–10(–19, –30 in fruit) × 1–2 cm; bracts proximally green to pale brown, rarely dull reddish brown, distally white on apices, sometimes pale yellow or pale pink-purplish on apices, rarely greenish or dull reddish brown throughout, lanceolate or lanceolate-elliptic, 3(–5)-lobed; lobes ascending, linear to lanceolate, long, arising below mid length, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse. |
10–14+ × 6 cm; bracts proximally dull greenish to dull brownish, distally pale orange to reddish, cuneate to obovate-truncate, 3–5(–9)-lobed, with white, stiff hairs mostly along veins; lobes ascending to erect, broadly lanceolate or oblong, medium length, arising at or above mid length, center lobe apex rounded, sometimes toothed, others acute to sometimes rounded. |
Corollas | straight, 10–25 mm; tube 9–20 mm, not expanded distally; beak exserted, straight, adaxially white, light yellow, or greenish, 3–5 mm, inconspicuously puberulent; abaxial lip white or yellow with deep brown to purple spots, often becoming pink, slightly inflated, exserted or not, pouches 3, 2 mm wide, 1–1.5 mm deep, 3–4 mm, 75–80% as long as beak; teeth erect, white, pale yellow, or pink, 0.5–1.2 mm. |
straight, 25–30 mm; tube 12–15 mm; beak subequal or ± exserted, adaxially green, 12–15 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, strongly saccate-corrugated, 1.5 mm, 10% as long as beak; teeth incurved, reduced, green, 1 mm. |
Calyces | colored as bracts, (8–)15–23 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (4–)6–8 mm, abaxial ca. 50% of calyx length, adaxial ca. 75% of calyx length, lateral 3–3.5 mm, 33% of calyx length; lobes linear to narrowly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
distally reddish, 20–28 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 12–15 mm, 50–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (0–)2–6 mm, 0–25% of calyx length; lobes lanceolate, apex acute. |
Filaments | glabrous. |
|
2n | = 24. |
|
Castilleja attenuata |
Castilleja leschkeana |
|
Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Jun. | Flowering Jun. |
Habitat | Grasslands, pastures, moist margins of springs and streams, damp rocky slopes. | Dune swales, swampy ground, near coast. |
Elevation | 0–2100 m. (0–6900 ft.) | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California); South America (Chile)
|
CA |
Discussion | Castilleja attenuata is a common and widespread species, ranging from southwestern Canada to northern Baja California, with several disjunct populations in central Chile. It is sensitive to competition from weeds. Disjunct populations in the Rincon Mountains in Pima County, Arizona, often have pink bracts but are otherwise typical. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Castilleja leschkeana was based on a 1947 specimen from a swale near the radio station on Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County. It was found again in 1960, but the species has not been seen or collected since then. The type specimen of C. leschkeana was identified as the Alaskan species C. chrymactis by T. I. Chuang and L. R. Heckard (1993), who considered the California population to be an accidental introduction. However, the flowers of C. leschkeana are shorter than those of C. chrymactis, with a shorter beak that is scarcely exserted. The bract blade and bract lobes of C. leschkeana are shorter, and the pubescence of its bracts is very different, short-hispid and more prominent along the veins than on the blades, contrasting with the longer and soft-villous pubescence of C. chrymactis. M. Wetherwax et al. (2012) agreed that the Point Reyes specimen was misidentified as C. chrymactis, but they were hesitant to place it in any accepted California taxon. Castilleja leschkeana is here recognized as another narrow endemic, worthy of conservation concern if it is relocated. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 590. | FNA vol. 17, p. 620. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Orthocarpus attenuatus | |
Name authority | (A. Gray) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 656. (1991) | J. T. Howell: Leafl. W. Bot. 5: 91. (1948) |
Web links |
|