Castilleja nivea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Castilleja nivea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Custer Gallatin National Forest, Montana | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Orobanchaceae |
| Genus: | Castilleja |
| Species: | C. nivea |
| Binomial name | |
| Castilleja nivea | |
Castilleja nivea, the snow paintbrush or snowy paintbrush, is a rare species of alpine plant from northern Wyoming and southern Montana.
Snow paintbrush is small perennial plant that grows 5–16 centimeters (2–6+1⁄4 in) tall. Its stems sprout from a woody caudex atop a taproot. The stems rest on the ground at their base and then grow upwards or lean outwards. They will only have small, leafy side shoots growing from leaf bases and are covered in hairs, more densely towards the top and less thickly towards the base.[1]
The leaves are gray due to a thick covering of hairs, but under this covering they are green to purple. They are narrow and grass-like to lanceolate, shaped like a spearhead, but only narrowly so and are 1–3.8 cm (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 in) long. They can have three lobes or be undivided and are not fleshy in texture.[1]
The inflorescence is 2.5–6 cm (1–2+1⁄4 in) long and 1–2.5 cm (1⁄2–1 in) wide. The flowers are mostly covered by the 1.5–2.2 cm long mostly fused yellow sepals, sometimes the flower's beak and lower lip protruding out of them. The color of the sepals is difficult to see due to a thick covering of white hairs. The associated bracts are typically greenish or yellow-green, but might be a pale, dull purple. Most often the bracts are divided at the midpoint into three lobes, but might have five or none at all. The hidden flowers are 1.8–2.5 cm long with the tube just 3.5–5.5 millimeters and are mostly green.[1]
Taxonomy
Castilleja nivea is a species in the genus Castilleja classified within the wider Orobanchaceae family. It was scientifically described in 1950 by Francis W. Pennell and Francis Marion Ownbey. It has no subspecies or botanical synonyms.[2] Pennell collected a specimen of the species on 2 August 1938 on the south side of Rock Creek Valley in the Beartooth Mountains in Montana.[3] In 1946 Ownbey examined specimens collected by Charles Leo Hitchcock and Clarence V. Muhlick and identified it as a new species and contacted Pennell suggesting they write a paper about it, but work on publication was delayed for another four years.[4]
Names
Castilleja nivea is known by the common names snow paintbrush and snowy paintbrush.[1] It is also sometimes called snow Indian paintbrush.[5]
