Subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer.
Madden Peak, June 23, 2004.
Kennebec Pass, July 18, 2006.

Castilleja rhexifolia bract colors range from subtle magentas to flaming rose to hot iridescent pink to soft yellow-purple.  For pure outright amazing color, this Paintbrush is hard to surpass.  And all of these colors are often visible in one small area.  But you will have to hike to meadows in the subalpine and alpine zones where Castilleja rhexifolia joins Buttercups, numerous Sunflowers, Bistorts, King's Crown, and more in one of the finest of all wildflower displays.

Castilleja rhexifolia has a long blooming time, from just after snow melt in June to September.  It grows to twelve inches tall, but on alpine tundra it is no more than a few inches tall.

Leaves typically are red-tinted and have three prominent veins.  Upper colored bracts are often very shallowly cut into three with the outer two divisions quite small.

Castilleja rhexifolia with its red hues hybridizes with the soft yellow hues of Castilleja sulphurea to produce a wide variety of red/yellow/purple bract and flower colorings.  (But Intermountain Flora indicates that although C. rhexifolia and C. sulphurea "are morphologically indistinguishable" and occupy the same habitats, "there is little evidence of hybridization".)  At its lower limits in mid-mountain altitudes, C. rhexifolia hybridizes with C. miniata.  The resulting flowers often have the wild colors of the former and the larger, more deeply cut bracts of the latter.

"Rhexifolia" is Greek for "broken foliage" and probably refers to the strongly veined leaves and their resemblance to the veins of the eastern U.S. genus, Rhexia.