Castilleja levisecta

From Puget Prairie Plants
  • Scientific Name: Castilleja levisecta
  • Family: Orobanchaceae
  • Common Names: golden paintbrush
  • Codon: CASLEV

Photo by Rod Gilbert, also featured on Main Page

Taxonomy

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Viridiplantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Spermatophytina
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Asteranae
Order: Lamiales
Family: Orobanchaceae
Genus: Castilleja Mutis ex L. f.
Species: Castilleja levisecta Greenm.

[1]

Description

Erect, perennial, hemiparasitic[2] herb with mostly unbranched stems growing from a woody base and taproot[3] and showy, terminal flowers; sticky-villous, up to 50 cm tall.[4] Leaves alternate, distally 3-7-lobed, to 5.2 cm long.[3] Inflorescences are leafy bracteate, terminal spikes,[5] the bracts terminally lobed, yellow.[6] Flowers zygomorphic; calyx 4-lobed, unequal, yellow; corolla tubular, bilabiate; stamens 5, didanymous, epipetalous; ovary superior, becoming a loculicidal capsule.[5]

Bloom Period

April- September[4]

Distribution

Vancouver Island, the Puget Sound and Willamette Valley.[4]

This is a federally threatened species and an endangered species in Washington.

Habitat

Meadows and prairies at low elevations. Often on glacially derived soils (Gamon et al 2000)

Uses

Ecology and Wildlife

Pollinator food source (Evans et al 1984), hemiparasitic – grows better with Festuca roemeri.

Important host plant for the federally endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly

Propagation

a) SEED PROPAGATION

Castilleja levisecta seed
Photo Credit Lisa HIntz
Castilleja levisecta seed
Photo Credit Lisa HIntz

Seed

Seed sample from: 2010

Measurement: 1.4 x 0.7 x 0.6

Measurement range: L: 1.1 – 1.5, W: 0.5 - 0.9, D: 0.4 - 0.9

Shape: Seed is narrow at the hilum, widening at opposite end to create a cone like shape.

Color: Embryo surrounded by distinct honeycombed seed coat that is light tan and transparent. Inside, a golden brown, rice-shaped embryo is visible.

Surface: Seed is shiny and deeply honeycombed in texture.

Latitudinal cross section: elliptical CALE lat.png

Longitudinal cross section: triangular CALE long.png

Basic Explanations and Assumptions:

The dimensions for the seeds are length x width x depth. The location of the hilum is used as the base of the seed, and the length is measured from hilum to the opposite apex. Where a style is present, the length is measured from the hilum to the bottom of the style. Width is measured at a right angle to the length at the widest part. Depth is measured at a right angle to the intersection of height and width lines.

Measurements included are the mean average for each measurement of ten separate seeds.

All measurements in millimeters unless otherwise noted.

Photo Gallery

References

http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=CALE27&display=31 http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CALE27 http://www.centerforplantconservation.org/collection/cpc_viewprofile.asp?CPCNum=824


Media:Example.ogg

  1. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved from https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=33137
  2. Bowcutt, F., & Hamman, S. (2016). Vascular Plants of the South Sound Prairies. p. 107.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Flora of North America. Retrieved from http://dev.floranorthamerica.org/Castilleja_levisecta
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 WTU Herbarium, Burke Museum, & University of Washington. Retrieved from https://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection/taxon.php?Taxon=Castilleja%20levisecta
  5. 5.0 5.1 Hitchcock, C. L., Cronquist, A., Giblin, D., & Legler, B. et al. (2018). Flora of the Pacific Northwest: an illustrated manual. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 498.
  6. Hitchcock, C. L., Cronquist, A., Giblin, D., & Legler, B. et al. (2018). Flora of the Pacific Northwest: an illustrated manual. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 502.