Castilleja gracillima

Rydberg

Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 39. 1907.

Common names: Slender paintbrush
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 17. Treatment on page 611. Mentioned on page 577, 601.

Herbs, perennial, 2–5.5 dm; from a remote woody caudex; with a taproot. Stems solitary, sometimes few, proximally creeping, becoming rhizomatous, erect to ascending distally, unbranched, sometimes branched, often glabrate proximally, hairy distally, hairs spreading, medium length and long, soft, mixed with much shorter stipitate-glandular ones near inflorescence. Leaves green to purplish, linear-lanceolate to broadly lanceolate or narrowly oblong, 1.2–7.1 cm, not fleshy, margins plane, sometimes ± wavy, slightly involute, 0-lobed, apex acute to acuminate. Inflorescences 4.5–18 × 1.5–6 cm; bracts white, cream, pale-yellow, pink, salmon, orange, or dull red throughout, or proximally greenish, distally as above, broadly lanceolate to oblong, 0–3 (–5) -lobed; lobes ascending to erect, lanceolate to triangular, often short, arising above mid length, apex obtuse or rounded, sometimes acute or acuminate. Calyces colored as bracts, pigmentation often confined to lobes, 15–22 mm; abaxial and adaxial clefts 7–14 mm, 40–50% of calyx length, deeper than laterals, lateral 2–6.5 mm, 10–20% of calyx length; lobes narrowly triangular to narrowly lanceolate, apex acute (to sometimes acuminate in Logan Valley). Corollas ± straight, 19–30 mm; tube 11–19 mm; beak exserted from calyx, adaxially green, 7.5–11 mm; abaxial lip deep green, reduced, 1–2 mm, 20% as long as beak; teeth incurved to erect, green, 0.5–1 mm. 2n = 48.


Phenology: Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat: Mesic or wet, usually flat meadows, sometimes near hot springs, along stream banks, montane.
Elevation: 1600–2500 m.

Discussion

Castilleja gracillima populations are centered around the Greater Yellowstone region, but its range extends sporadically west to central Oregon. It is sometimes confused with C. miniata, but differs from that species in its floral dimensions, mostly single-stemmed growth form, primarily white, yellow, or pinkish orange bract coloration, puberulent stems, and weakly rhizomatous habit. Where the two grow in the same general region, there is no clear evidence of hybridization; however, C. cusickii and C. gracillima form an extensive, sporadically intergrading population in the Logan Valley, Grant County, Oregon.

Plants attributed to this species from the Rocky Mountain trench near the head of the Columbia River in southeastern British Columbia or adjacent Alberta are a combination of several other species, especially Castilleja lutescens and C. miniata.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.
... more about "Castilleja gracillima"
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.65 cm6.5 mm <br />0.0065 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
acute +, acuminate +, rounded +  and obtuse +
J. Mark Egger +, Peter F. Zika +, Barbara L. Wilson +, Richard E. Brainerd +  and Nick Otting +
Rydberg +
0.75 cm7.5 mm <br />0.0075 m <br /> (1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br />) +
not +, leathery +  and fleshy +
greenish;red;dull;orange;red;dull;orange;salmon;pink;pale-yellow;cream;white +
0-3(-5)-lobed +, broadly lanceolate +  and oblong +
pigmentation +  and colored +
2-lobed +, lobed +  and tubular +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (2.2 cm22 mm <br />0.022 m <br />) +
taprooted;fibrous-rooted or rhizomatous +
fleshy +  and woody +
Slender paintbrush +
purple +, pink +, red +, orange +, yellow +, white +, green +  and pale greenish +
divided +  and tubular +
1.9 cm19 mm <br />0.019 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
Idaho +, Mont. +, Oreg. +  and Wyo. +
1600–2500 m. +
spreading-hairy +  and glabrous +
2 +  and 1 +
indehiscent +, septicidal +, loculicidal +  and dehiscence +
Mesic or wet, usually flat meadows, sometimes near hot springs, along stream banks, montane. +
much-branched +, unbranched +  and eglandular +
stipitate-glandular +
4.5 cm45 mm <br />0.045 m <br /> (18 cm180 mm <br />0.18 m <br />) +
axillary +  and terminal +
1.5 cm15 mm <br />0.015 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
spiral +, whorled +, alternate +  and opposite +
green +  and purplish +
deciduous +
basal +  and cauline +
linear-lanceolate;broadly lanceolate or narrowly oblong +
1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br /> (7.1 cm71 mm <br />0.071 m <br />) +
not fleshy +
ascending +  and erect +
3 (?) +, 2 (?) +  and 4 (?) +
narrowly triangular +  and narrowly lanceolate +
subequal +
0-lobed +, wavy +  and plane +
tenuinucellate +  and unitegmic +
campylotropous-like +
Flowering May–Aug. +
Bull. Torrey Bot. Club +
stramineous +
20 +  and 100 +
trapezoidal +, oblong-ovoid +, pyramidal +  and ovoid +
non-secund +  and secund +
elongate +
subequal +
branched +, unbranched +  and rhizomatous +
aerial +  and subterranean +
erect +  and ascending +
hairy +  and glabrate +
not fleshy +
2-lobed +  and entire +
Euchroma +  and Oncorhynchus +
Castilleja gracillima +
Castilleja +
species +
shallow;deep +
incurved +  and erect +
reduced +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br /> (1.9 cm19 mm <br />0.019 m <br />) +