Castilleja sessiliflora |
Castilleja flava |
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downy paintedcup, Great Plains Indian paintbrush |
rustic paintbrush, yellow Indian paintbrush, yellow paintbrush |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, 1–4 dm; from a branching, woody caudex; with a taproot. | Herbs, perennial, 1.5–5.5(–7.5) dm; from a woody caudex; with a taproot. | ||||
Stems | few to many, ascending to erect, often decumbent at base, unbranched, sometimes branched, hairs spreading, sometimes matted, short to medium length, ± soft, eglandular, often with a layer of minute-glandular hairs, sometimes woolly. |
several to many, erect or ascending, often grayish, unbranched or often branched distally, glabrate proximally or hairy, especially distally, rarely glabrous, hairs sparse, spreading to appressed, usually curly, ± short, soft, sometimes mixed with sparse, short stipitate-glandular ones. |
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Leaves | green to purple, or grayish with dust and hairs, linear to narrowly lanceolate, (1–)2–5(–6) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, involute, (0–)3–5-lobed, apex acuminate to acute; lobes divergent, spreading, linear, apex acute. |
often grayish or purplish, linear to narrowly lanceolate or narrowly oblong, (1–)2.5–5(–6.7) cm, not fleshy, margins plane or wavy, involute, deeply (0–)3–5(–7)-lobed, apex acute to acuminate; lobes divaricate to spreading or ascending, linear, arising at or below mid length, apex acute to acuminate. |
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Inflorescences | 3–18 × 2.5–6.5 cm; bracts green to purplish throughout, sometimes reddish brown, pink, or lavender throughout, or distally white or pale yellow, sometimes distally dull pink, pink, salmon, orangish, pale pink-orange, buff, or cream, lanceolate, similar to distal leaves, 3(–5)-lobed; lobes spreading, linear-lanceolate, long, arising at or below mid length, apex acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse. |
3.5–20(–29) × 1–4 cm; bracts pale green to pale yellow throughout, or proximally pale green to pale yellow, distally pale yellow to bright yellow, sometimes light orange, light red, or bright red, lanceolate to narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, slightly broader than leaves, usually 3–5-lobed; lobes ± spreading, linear or narrowly lanceolate, short or long, proximal or all bracts arising near or below mid length, apex acute, sometimes narrowly obtuse. |
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Corollas | strongly curved distally, 35–55 mm; tube 24–45 mm; abaxial lip, beak, and distal portion of tube exserted; beak adaxially green, yellow, pinkish, purplish, or whitish, 9–15 mm; abaxial lip green, pale green, or purple, protruding, shelflike, 4–8 mm, 50–70% as long as beak; teeth spreading, white, pale yellow, pink, or purple, 3–4 mm. |
straight or ± curved, 13–30 mm; tube 12–16 mm; beak, sometimes abaxial lip, slightly to strongly exserted, corolla often curved and exserted through abaxial cleft; beak adaxially green, (5–)6–12 mm; abaxial lip green or yellow, reduced, exserted or more commonly visible in cleft in calyx, 1–3.5 mm, 20–33(–50)% as long as beak; teeth ascending, green to yellow, 0.5–2 mm. |
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Calyces | colored as bracts, sometimes proximally white, 20–40 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 12–20 mm, 40–60% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 5–15 mm, 10–25% of calyx length; lobes linear, apex acute to acuminate. |
proximally green, sometimes purple or pinkish, distally yellow to light orange, dull green, or colored as bracts, 11–28 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 4–16(–17) mm, 30–60(–95)% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 0.5–7 mm, 4–30% of calyx length; lobes linear to lanceolate or narrowly to broadly triangular, apex acute to acuminate. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 48. |
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Castilleja sessiliflora |
Castilleja flava |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Mar–Aug(–Oct). | |||||
Habitat | Dry mixed grass and shortgrass prairies, prairie sandhills, sandsage plains, sand prairies, rocky or sandy slopes, bluffs, open forests, or desert scrub, limestone, sandstone, gypsum, granite, other bedrock types. | |||||
Elevation | 0–2300 m. (0–7500 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
AZ; CO; IA; IL; KS; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; WI; WY; AB; MB; SK; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas)
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CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WY
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Discussion | Castilleja sessiliflora ranges across the Great Plains from southern Canada to northern Mexico, where it is apparently rare. In Texas and northern Mexico, its range overlaps with the similar C. mexicana. Most populations of C. sessiliflora, especially north of Texas, have white to pale yellow inflorescences; in southwestern Texas they are more variable in color, with pink-purple plants often predominating locally. Those plants with pink-purple inflorescences were named forma purpurina by F. W. Pennell. In the limestone deserts of southern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, the inflorescences are often a pale pink-orange, but these are intermingled with more typical greenish white plants. Occasional hybrids between C. angustifolia var. dubia and C. sessiliflora are known from northeastern Wyoming. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Both varieties of Castilleja flava are characteristic plants of sagebrush-dominated communities throughout its wide range, from valleys to moderate elevations in the mountains, sometimes reaching the lower subalpine. The species almost always occurs in close association with shrubby species of Artemisia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 17, p. 657. | FNA vol. 17, p. 607. | ||||
Parent taxa | ||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 2: 738. (1813) | S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 230. (1871) — (as Castilleia) | ||||
Web links |