Castilleja miniata

Castilleja miniata is a species of Indian paintbrush known by the common name giant red Indian paintbrush. It is native to western North America from Alaska to Ontario to California to New Mexico, where it grows usually in moist places in a wide variety of habitat types.

Castilleja miniata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Castilleja
Species:
C. miniata
Binomial name
Castilleja miniata
Synonyms

Castilleja elata
Castilleja gracillima
Castilleja uliginosa

Description

This wildflower is a perennial herb growing up to about 80 centimeters tall, slender and green to dark purple in herbage color. The lance-shaped leaves are 3 to 6 centimeters long, pointed, and coated in thin hairs. The inflorescence is made up of bright red to pale orange or orange-tipped bracts. Between the bracts emerge the yellow-green, red-edged tubular flowers.

Because most species of the genus are parasitic on other plants, sophisticated networks are formed between their roots and those of other species. They therefore cannot be transplanted in most cases.[1]

Subspecies

There are three subspecies of this plant:

  • C. m. ssp. dixonii - limited to the west coast from Alaska to Oregon
  • C. m. ssp. elata (Siskiyou Indian paintbrush) - rare subspecies limited to the Klamath Mountains in Northern California and Southern Oregon
  • C. m. ssp. miniata - the common, widespread subspecies

References
  1. Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p. 575. ISBN 0-394-73127-1.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.