Castilleja attenuata |
Castilleja rigida |
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attenuate Indian paintbrush, attenuate paintbrush, narrow-leaf owl's-clover, narrow-leaf owl-clover, narrow-leaf paintbrush, valley-tassels |
rigid Indian paintbrush, rigid paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, 1–4.5 dm; with fibrous roots. | Herbs or subshrubs, perennial, 1.4–7.5 dm; from a woody caudex; with a strongly woody taproot or branched, woody roots. |
Stems | solitary, erect to ascending, unbranched, sometimes branched from base, hairs spreading, short and medium, ± stiff, eglandular. |
few to many, erect to basally ascending, sometimes with subtle, curvy zigzags, unbranched, sometimes branched, proximally or with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs loosely spreading, long, soft, ± wavy, eglandular and shorter stipitate-glandular. |
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, linear-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, 2–5.5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acute, distalmost obtuse to rounded. |
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. |
2–7.5 × 2–3.5 cm; bracts proximally greenish, distally abruptly rose red, bright red, or red-orange, narrowly to broadly oblong-obovate to obovate or ovate-elliptic, 0-lobed; apex rounded to obtuse. |
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 or slightly curved, (24–)28–36(–42) mm; tube 15–22 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green to yellow-green, (8–)10–14 mm; abaxial lip dark green, reduced, 0.5–1.5 mm, 7–12% as long as beak; teeth reduced, green to yellowish green, 0.5–1.5 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. |
colored as bracts, sometimes with a yellow central band, 20–32(–36) mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts (5–)7–14 mm, ca. 40% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0–0.5 mm, 0–7% of calyx length; lobes poorly developed, if present, rounded, apex rounded to truncate, sometimes emarginate. |
Filaments | glabrous. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Castilleja attenuata |
Castilleja rigida |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Jun. | Flowering Mar–Jul(–Nov). |
Habitat | Grasslands, pastures, moist margins of springs and streams, damp rocky slopes. | Desert scrub, rocky slopes, ledges, ridges, flats, swales, roadsides, commonly with Agave lechuguilla. |
Elevation | 0–2100 m. (0–6900 ft.) | 300–1500 m. (1000–4900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; OR; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California); South America (Chile)
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TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Zacatecas)
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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 rigida is endemic to desert scrub on limestone deposits in the Chihuahuan Desert region and the adjacent western edge of the Edwards Plateau. It is almost always closely associated with, and most likely parasitic on, Agave lechuguilla. The majority of its range is in the Mexican states of Chihuahua, east of the Sierra Madre Occidental, as well as in Coahuila and Nuevo León, where it is a characteristic component of the regional flora, but also extends into a few counties in southwestern Texas. It is sometimes confused with the similar species, C. nervata, which is widespread in the sierras of western Mexico and is known from a single extant population in the western Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Castilleja nervata and C. rigida are largely parapatric in Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 590. | FNA vol. 17, p. 651. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Orthocarpus attenuatus | C. latebracteata |
Name authority | (A. Gray) T. I. Chuang & Heckard: Syst. Bot. 16: 656. (1991) | Eastwood: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 44: 575. (1909) |
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