Castilleja austromontana – Rincon Mountain Indian Paintbrush

Castilleja austromontana - Rincon Mountain Indian Paintbrush, Rincon Indian Paintbrush

Castilleja austromontana - Rincon Mountain Indian Paintbrush, Rincon Indian Paintbrush

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Castilleja austromontana

Common Names: Rincon Mountain Indian Paintbrush, Rincon Indian Paintbrush

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb, Hemiparasite

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Mountain

Flower Color: Coral-red

Flowering Season: Summer

Height: Around 18 inches (45 cm) tall

Description: The beak-like flowers are surrounded by petal-like, red-tipped, somewhat egg-shaped floral bracts with broad, rounded tips that are either entire (unlobed) or very shallowly cleft near the tip to create 2 small, narrow side lobes. The flowers are followed by egg-shaped seed capsules. The leaves have 3 main lengthwise veins and are green, hairless above, covered with long, soft, spreading, unmatted hairs below, alternate, sessile, simple (undivided), linear to lanceolate in shape, and entire (not lobed). The uppermost leaves intergrade with the red floral bracts and these leaf-bracts can have two small, shallow side lobes. The stems are green, upright, and covered with long, fine hairs that are not matted, flattened, woolly, or grayish in color. These plants are partial root parasites of nearby plants.

Unlike this plant, the similarly red-flowered Sierra Woolly Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja lanata), Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (C. linariifolia), and Huachuca Mountain Indian Paintbrush (C. patriotica) have deeply cleft upper leaves and/or deeply cleft floral bracts. Lesser Indian Paintbrush (C. minor) has flowers with very narrow, linear bracts. Wholeleaf Indian Paintbrush (C. integra) has stems covered with appressed, grayish white, woolly hair. Trans-Pecos Indian Paintbrush (C. nervata) and Santa Catalina Indian Paintbrush (C. tenuiflora) have leaves that are hairy above.

Special Characteristics

Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Scrophulariales
Family: Scrophulariaceae – Figwort family
Genus: Castilleja Mutis ex L. f. – Indian paintbrush
Species: Castilleja austromontana Standl. & Blumer – Rincon Mountain Indian paintbrush

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map