Castilleja tomentosa
Castilleja elegans
hairy Indian paintbrush, tomentose paintbrush
elegant Indian paintbrush, elegant paintbrush
few to many, ascending to erect, unbranched or branched, with short, leafy axillary shoots, moderately lanate, hairs prostrate to spreading, whitish, unbranched, short, fairly soft, eglandular.
few to several, ascending to erect, or slightly decumbent at base, unbranched, hairy, sometimes glabrate near base, hairs erect-ascending, whitish or yellowish, long, soft, eglandular, mixed with shorter stipitate-glandular ones, especially distally.
green, linear to narrowly lanceolate, (0.8–)3–5 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, strongly involute, 0–3(–5)-lobed, apex acute to rounded;
lobes spreading, linear, short, apex acute.
green to sometimes purple-tinged, lanceolate to narrowly oblong, (1.2–)2–6(–9) cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, flat to ± involute, 0-lobed, sometimes 3-lobed distally, immediately below inflorescence, apex acuminate to caudate;
lobes ascending to erect, linear to lanceolate, lateral lobes narrower than central, apex acuminate.
5–20 × 0.5–2.5 cm;
bracts proximally dull brownish to deep greenish purple, distally red, red-orange, or orange, lanceolate or oblong to obovate, deeply 3(–5)-lobed;
lobes ascending, linear to lanceolate, long, arising below mid length, central lobe apex rounded to obtuse, others acute.
1.5–9 × 1.5–3 cm;
bracts purple to pink-purple or reddish purple throughout, sometimes proximally purple to pink-purple or reddish purple, distally whitish or pale pink, oblong to lanceolate or narrowly ovate, (0–)3–7-lobed;
lobes spreading-ascending, linear-lanceolate, narrow, short or long, arising near or above mid length, center lobe apex rounded to sometimes acute, lateral ones acute.
straight or slightly curved, 12–20 mm;
tube 13–15 mm;
beak exserted or ± equal to calyx, adaxially pale green, 8–11.5 mm;
abaxial lip green or red-violet, inconspicuous, slightly pouched, 1.5–2 mm, ca. 10–20% as long as beak;
teeth incurved, pink to pale yellow or deep green, 1 mm.
straight, 18–28 mm;
tube 17–20 mm;
abaxial lip generally visible between calyx lobes, sometimes exserted above them, beak exserted;
beak adaxially green, yellowish green, or purplish green, 4–8 mm;
abaxial lip purple or magenta, medium sized, often visible through or above abaxial cleft, pouches 3, slightly inflated, 3–5.5 mm, 50+% as long as beak;
teeth ascending, purple or magenta, 1–1.5 mm.
colored as bracts, (10–)13–19 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 4–8(–11) mm, 33–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 5–7 mm, ca. 25% of calyx length;
lobes linear to lanceolate, apex acute.
yellow to yellow-green, rarely purplish to dull red throughout, 19–25 mm;
abaxial and adaxial clefts 10–17 mm, 60–70% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral (2–)5–8 mm, 20–25% of calyx length;
lobes narrowly oblong to lanceolate, apex rounded or obtuse, sometimes acute.
= 24.
Castilleja tomentosa
Castilleja elegans
In the United States, Castilleja tomentosa is known from a number of recently discovered populations in and near the southern Animas Valley, Hidalgo County, where it is found in Bouteloua gracilis and Sporobolus airoides grasslands. All known populations are small, and this species should be considered globally endangered. The only recorded Mexican station was the type locality from 1851 near Mabibi in adjacent northern Sonora. A. Eastwood (1909) believed C. tomentosa was a synonym of C. integra, but that species has mostly entire bracts, while the bracts of C. tomentosa are deeply lobed; the two also have different patterns of coloration and pubescence. T. I. Chuang annotated the holotype sheet of C. tomentosa as C. lanata, but C. tomentosa calyces have fairly deep lateral lobes, unlike the emarginate to very shallowly notched lobes of C. lanata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Castilleja elegans is a characteristic species of the arctic and arctic-alpine regions. Its eastern and western limits are poorly understood, due to confusion with the similar species C. raupii to the east and south, and with C. rubra (Drobow) Rebristaya in eastern Asia. All three are part of a morphologically variable complex of recently evolved and poorly differentiated entities informally known as the C. pallida complex, after the first-described member of the group. Some reports of C. elegans in eastern Canada are here referred to C. septentrionalis. A recent collection of C. elegans from the northern Canadian Rocky Mountains is apparently disjunct, though it may also suggest its wider presence in Alberta.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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