![]() The plant is attractive in the garden with small greenish flowers hidden in axils of scarlet-tipped, fan-shaped bracts that appear to have been dipped in paint. The genus Castilleja, formerly belonging the family Scrophulariaceae (figwort), has recently been transferred to the family Orobanchaceae (broomrape). Indian Paintbrush is listed as endangered in some states and as extinct in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Louisiana. Lamiales (mints, plantains, olives, and allies)Ĭastilleja coccinea (scarlet Indian paintbrush) Streptophyta (land plants and green algae) Though it can survive on its own, it has a forty-fold increase in growth when it parasitizes the roots of other plants. They obtain water and mineral nutrients from the roots of grasses and forbs, but are also photosynthetic, producing chlorophyll. Plants in the genus Castilleja are hemiparasitic. lutescens) has yellow bracts and calyces. Scarlet Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea f. The fruit is an asymmetrical, egg-shaped, ⅜ ″ long capsule containing numerous seeds. They are usually at least partially concealed by the colorful bracts. The corolla is inconspicuous, consisting of 5 petals fused for their entire length into a greenish-yellow tube that is 13 ⁄ 16 ″ to 1 1 ⁄ 16 ″ long, slightly longer than the calyx. The calyx is ⅝ ″ to 1 ″ long, more or less scarlet, and divided into 2 rounded lobes. The bracts are lance-shaped, usually deeply 3-lobed, occasionally 5-lobed, wholly or mostly scarlet. When in fruit the spike is 4 ″ to 8 ″ long.Įach flower is subtended by a large leaf-like bract. The inflorescence is a dense, red, 1 ½ ″ to 2 ⅜ ″ long spike at the end of the stem. The lower surface is hairy along the veins. Some leaves are cleft with 3 to 5 linear lobes, the central lobe longer and broader than the lateral lobes. It is a Missouri native which occurs in prairies, rocky glades, moist and open woodlands, thickets and streambanks in the eastern. Stem leaves are variable in form, linear to lance-shaped, 1 ¼ ″ to 3 ¼ ″ long, and up to ⅜ ″ wide. Castilleja coccinea, commonly called Indian paintbrush or painted cup, is a biennial member of the broomrape family (Orobanchaceae) that typically grows on unbranched stems to 1-1.5' tall (less frequently to 2'). The stems are ascending to erect, slender, usually unbranched, and covered with short, fine hairs.īasal leaves are inversely lance-shaped to egg-shaped, unlobed, up to 3 ¼ ″ long, and up to ¾ ″ wide. In the second year it sends up flowering stems. In the first year it develops a rosette of basal leaves. coccinea) is a 5 ″ to 24 ″ tall, erect, annual or biennial, hemiparasitic forb that rises on usually a single stem from a taproot rhizome caudex. So grow host plants for your native butterflies and moths and help restore nature one garden at a time! For more information, read " Plant Choice Matters", excerpted from "Nature's Best Hope" by University of Delaware Professor of Entomology Doug Tallamy.Scarlet Indian paintbrush (f. So if the required native plants are not present in an area, nearly all butterfly and moth species will die out in that area along with much of the other animal life that depends on them. For example, 96% of terrestrial bird species rely on insects to feed their young, and fat juicy caterpillars are the most important part of that diet. Terrestrial birds, predator/beneficial insects and a large part of the rest of the food chain depend either directly or indirectly on native plant - caterpillar pairs. Native plants and caterpillars are a key foundation of our whole native ecosystem. This is the primary reason why native landscapes support 35x more caterpillar biomass than non-native landscapes. However, 90% of caterpillar species cant get past the chemical and structural defenses of other than a handful of native plants with which they coevolved. Butterflies often have preferences for native nectar sources, but they can usually make do with non-native nectar. Non-native plants can seldom be host plants for native butterfly or moth species. If a given species of butterfly or moth cant find their particular host plants in an area, it will die out in that area. ![]() These plants are called "host plants" for that species of butterfly or moth. The caterpillars of most butterfly and moth species have evolved to eat the leaves of just a small number of plant species native to their geographic range, sometimes in just one genus of plants.
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