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There are, according to Intermountain Flora, about 200 species of Castilleja (Paintbrush); most grow in western North America, several in eastern North America and Asia, and about fifteen in Central and South America. Castilleja comes in many colors and often these colors represent distinct species. But many Paintbrush hybridize and therefore precise species identification on the basis of color can be problematic. Color poses another problem: What we admire as the attractive Castilleja flowers, is actually leaf-like parts, the bracts and sepals. The flower petals themselves are fused in a long, narrow tube that is often greenish-yellow. The stigma (visible in several photographs below) usually protrudes from the floral tube. Some species of Paintbrush grow singly, others scattered, others in large, very attractive patches, and others in all three manners. Paintbrush is hemiparasitic (partially parasitic), i.e., if Paintbrush roots encounter roots of other plants they can derive nourishment from these roots. This somewhat explains why several species of Castilleja, especially Castilleja chromosa, commonly begin growing under taller plants such as Sagebrush. Perhaps they also profit from the shade. Because of its parasitic nature (and other characteristics brought out by genetic research), the Castilleja genus is now placed in Orobanchaceae, not Scrophulariaceae. Paintbrush of the same species may consistently or inconsistently have hairy or smooth, sticky or not sticky stems; lower leaves may be noticeably red and three-veined or not; bracts may, on their outside top edges, be deeply or shallowly cut into narrow or wider division or not cut at all. Intermountain Flora indicates: "The species of Castilleja are often difficult to distinguish because of overlapping variation in nearly every character." Despite these identification difficulties, one can, with patience and practice, learn the various Castilleja species pictured on this website. With little effort at all, one quickly learns to appreciate their beauty. The genus name, "Castilleja", honors Domingo Castillejo (1744-1793), Spanish botanist and Professor of Botany in Cadiz, Spain. In the late 1770s Jose Celestino Mutis (who was born in Cadiz, Spain but spent most of his life in Columbia) named a new Columbian genus "Castilleja" to honor his countryman. He sent the new species and name to Linnaeus' son who published the information in Supplementum Plantarum in 1781. (Click for more biographical information about Castillejo.) |
Castilleja
haydenii (Paintbrush) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Alpine. Tundra. Summer. |
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Castilleja
haydenii (Hayden's Paintbrush) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Alpine. Tundra. Summer. Castilleja haydenii and Castilleja rhexiifolia (see bottom of this page) can be difficult to distinguish from each other, but several characteristics help to separate them: C. haydenii is a very short alpine tundra plant (rarely subalpine) growing 2-5 inches tall; C. rhexiifolia grows in the high subalpine (and commonly in the lower alpine) to nearly two feet tall and grows to 5-10 inches on alpine tundra. C. haydenii often has 3-5 shallow cuts in its upper leaves and bract tips; C. rhexiifolia has fewer, more shallow cuts. C. haydenii's bracts are most often very light pink; those of C. rhexiifolia are a hot, iridescent rose-pink. The height and color are quite variable in C. rhexiifolia but C. haydenii is consistently light to deeper pink. C. rhexiifolia is far more common than C. haydenii in the Four Corners mountainous areas and throughout the mountain West where it ranges from north-central New Mexico to Montana to Washington, overlapping the range of C. haydenii which occurs just in north-central New Mexico, southern Colorado, and the very southeast corner of Utah. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was the leader of the widely acclaimed "Hayden Survey", the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, 1867-1879. (More biographical information about Hayden.) |
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Castilleja
haydenii (Hayden's Paintbrush) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Alpine. Tundra. Summer. |
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Castilleja
haydenii (Hayden's Paintbrush) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Alpine. Tundra. Summer. Bracts of C. haydenii typically have one or two narrow, linear lobes to each side of a broad central lobe. |
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Castilleja
haydenii (Hayden's Paintbrush) Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family) Alpine. Tundra. Summer. |
Castilleja rhexiifolia (Rose Paintbrush) Subalpine, alpine. Meadows. Summer. Castilleja rhexiifolia bract colors are most often hot rose-pink, but they range from subtle magentas to flaming rose to hot iridescent pink. For pure outright amazing color, this Paintbrush is hard to surpass. C. rhexiifolia plants with color variations can often be found very close to one another. But to see these variations you will have to hike to meadows in the subalpine and alpine zones where Castilleja rhexiifolia joins buttercups, a number of species of sunflowers, bistorts, King's Crown, and many more flowers in one of the finest of all wildflower displays. Castilleja rhexiifolia has a long blooming time, from just after snow melt in June to September. It grows to two feet tall but typically is twelve inches, except on alpine tundra where it may be no more than five inches. Lower leaves are often red-tinted and have three prominent veins. Upper colored bracts, i.e., modified leaves, are often very shallowly cut into three with the outer two divisions quite small. In the lower two photographs at left you can see a number of Castilleja rhexiifolia characteristics: bract color in different plants can vary, hairiness and leaf venation are prominent, and the calyx surrounding the minute green tubular flower is the same color as the bracts. "Rhexiifolia" is Greek for "broken foliage" and refers to Castilleja rhexiifolia's strongly veined leaves and their resemblance to the veins of the eastern U.S. genus, Rhexia. Click for more Castilleja rhexiifolia photographs.
Several botanical floras indicate that Castilleja rhexiifolia hybridizes with Castilleja septentrionalis to produce plants with exotic bract colors such as those shown on another page on this website and immediately below, but these floras give no evidence that supports hybridization. In addition, some floras indicate that C. rhexiifolia hybridizes with C. miniata, not C. septentrionalis, and several floras indicate that C. rhexiifolia and C. septentrionalis are nearly identical and are just varieties of the same species. My 30 years of field observations of Castilleja rhexiifolia and its supposed hybrids in the western San Juan Mountains of Colorado makes me believe that the supposed hybrid is a species in itself and does not result from present day hybridization. Year after year you can find alpine meadows aglow with the hot rosy iridescence of Castilleja rhexiifolia and scattered in these meadows are a few gorgeous multi-colored plants but no Castilleja septentrionalis plants are present to produce hybrids. I propose the new name of Castilleja versicolor for the Castilleja with multi-colored bracts. Until that name is officially published and accepted, I will write it as Castilleja versicolor sp. nov. (i.e., species new name). Click for detailed botanical evidence supporting this taxon as a distinct species. |
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Range map © John Kartesz,
County Color Key
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Range map for Castilleja haydenii Range map for Castilleja rhexiifolia |