Downy Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja purpurea)
Description
An herbaceous, caespitose perennial from 6 to 18 inches high. Stems and leaves green, with villose hairs lending a grey cast. Leaves linear to lanceolate, with 1 to 3 pairs of narrow, lateral, linear-to-lanceolate lobes. Vivid color provided by lanceolate bracts on 6-inch spikes. Bract color at ends. Muted color on ends of calyces. Corolla inconspicuous, pale greenish white. Calyx 35-34 mm long. Corolla 35-40 mm. Lower lip of corolla 1.5-7 mm long with flaring lobes.This Castilleja species is native to calcareous grasslands from southern Kansas and Missouri south through Oklahoma to south Texas, and differs from the familiar, annual Castilleja indivisa commonly seeded on Texas roadsides not only in its longer lifespan but also in its wider range of colors. Its three natural varieties feature bracts ranging from yellow to orange to red to purple, depending on variety, with many shades in between. Like many paintbrushes, it is semi-parasitic on grass roots, an adaptation that makes it ideal for meadow and prairie plantings.Three varieties are recognized. Castilleja purpurea var. citrina, Lemon Paintbrush, sports pale to vivid yellow bracts and a longer and more flaring lower corolla lip than the other varieties. It ranges from central Kansas to central and west Texas in gravelly and sandy soils. Variety lindheimeri, Lindheimers Paintbrush, has orange to red bracts of various intensities and is found from the Blackland prairies of north-central Texas to the Rio Grande plains. It is more adapted to clay soils than the others. Variety purpurea, Purple Paintbrush, has the widest range of natural colors, usually some shade of purple but occasionally also shades of red, orange, yellow, or white. Favoring rocky limestone soils, it ranges from southwest Missouri southwest to central Texas. Where the varieties meet, an even wider range of colors can occur as they hybridize.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Lamiales
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Family: Orobanchaceae
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Genus: Castilleja
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