Castilleja ornata |
Castilleja pilosa |
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glowing Indian paintbrush, ornate paintbrush |
hairy paintbrush, parrot-head Indian paintbrush, pilose paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, annual, 1.7–3.5(–5) dm; with a thin taproot or fibrous root system. | Herbs, perennial, (0.7–)1.2–3.5(–4.4) dm; from a woody caudex; with a stout taproot. | ||||||||
Stems | solitary or few to several, erect or ascending, often branched low on stem, unbranched distally, hairs appressed or retrorse, medium length, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones. |
several to many, ascending to erect, sometimes short-decumbent, branched or unbranched, sometimes with short, leafy axillary shoots, hairs moderately dense, retrorse or curved to spreading, straight, curly, or ± wavy, medium length to long, soft to stiff, eglandular. |
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Leaves | green or purple-tinged, proximal forming a rosette, linear-lanceolate to oblong or oblanceolate, 2–4 cm, not fleshy, clasping, margins wavy, sometimes plane, involute, 0-lobed, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse. |
green to purple, linear to lanceolate, 1–5.5(–8) cm, not fleshy, margins plane to ± wavy, involute, 0–5(–7)-lobed, apex acuminate to obtuse; lobes widely spreading to ascending-spreading, linear to filiform, apex acute or obtuse. |
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Inflorescences | 3–24 × 1.5–3 cm; bracts proximally green, distally white, sometimes very pale yellow, often aging dull pink or dull red-purple, spatulate, 0-lobed, sometimes seeming lobed due to wavy margins, apex obtuse to rounded. |
(2–)3.5–16 × 1–3.5 cm; bracts light green, green, yellow-green, light purple, purple, light dusky pink, salmon, or reddish brown throughout, or these colors proximally, distally or on distal margins white, pale yellow, yellow, pale salmon, or buff, sometimes becoming reddish purple with age, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 3–5(–9)-lobed, often wavy-margined; lobes spreading to erect or ascending, linear to oblanceolate, short to long, arising near or above mid length, sometimes wavy-margined, central lobe apex obtuse to rounded or truncate, sometimes acute, lateral ones acute to obtuse. |
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Corollas | slightly curved, 22–24 mm; tube 10–13 mm; beak exserted, adaxially green, 5–10 mm; abaxial lip pale greenish, reduced, pouches 3, 0.5–1.5 mm, 5–10% as long as beak; teeth slightly incurved, reduced, pale greenish to white, 0.3–0.7 mm. |
straight, 14–23 mm; tube 10–15; abaxial lip sometimes partially exserted, beak exserted; beak adaxially green or yellow-green, 3–7 mm; abaxial lip proximally green, pale yellow, pale or bright pink, or deep purple, distally white to pink or purplish, inflated, pouches 3, deeply furrowed, 2.5–8 mm, 50–100% as long as beak; teeth erect, green, white, buff, pink, or pale yellow, 1–2 mm. |
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Calyces | green throughout or distal margin white aging pink, 15–17 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 6–14 mm, 35–45% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0(–0.7) mm, 0(–5)% of calyx length; lobes short-triangular, abaxial segments longer than adaxials, apex acute to obtuse or rounded. |
proximally whitish to pale green, distally green, whitish, pink, or yellowish, 9–28 mm; all 4 clefts subequal, 2–12 mm, 45–55% of calyx length; lobes linear to narrowly lanceolate or narrowly triangular, rarely deltoid, apex acute, rarely rounded. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24, 48, 96. |
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Castilleja ornata |
Castilleja pilosa |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | |||||||||
Habitat | Seasonally damp ground, dry or sandy grasslands. | |||||||||
Elevation | 1500–2100 m. (4900–6900 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
NM; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango) |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WY
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Discussion | Castilleja ornata is known from Chihuahua and northern Durango, Mexico, but much of its seasonally moist grassland habitat is now altered by grazing or agriculture, and there are no recent sightings of the species south of the United States border. There is a recently discovered population in southwestern New Mexico, in the southern Animas Valley of Hidalgo County. While very rare, C. ornata lacks federal protection. The small Animas Valley population is the last known extant occurrence, and this population was reduced to two individuals in a census conducted in 2017 (D. Roth, pers. comm.). The species appears to be critically endangered globally and in need of conservation management. The inflorescences of Castilleja ornata have pale greenish bracts with white apices when young, but the apices often become pale pink to dull reddish with age. Its pubescence, wavy-margined leaves, and unusual bract color also distinguish C. ornata. Castilleja exserta and C. minor are the only other annual paintbrushes in New Mexico and differ from C. ornata by the color of their floral bract apices, which are usually pink to red-purple in C. exserta and bright red in C. minor. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 3 (3 in the flora). Castilleja pilosa is a widespread and variable complex similar in growth form and coloration to C. pallescens and related species. However, C. pilosa is distinguished with relative ease by its subequally divided calyces. Plants of the C. pallescens complex have very shallow lateral calyx lobes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 636. | FNA vol. 17, p. 644. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||
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Synonyms | Orthocarpus pilosus | |||||||||
Name authority | Eastwood: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 44: 571. (1909) | (S. Watson) Rydberg: Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 1: 361. (1900) | ||||||||
Web links |