INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH. SCARLET PAINT-BRUSH.
Castilleia parviflora, Bong. Figwort Family.
Hairy, at least above; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Laciniate-cleft or incised; sometimes entire; two inches or so long; mostly alternate. Flowers.—With conspicuous colored bracts. Calyx.—Tubular; about equally cleft before and behind; tinged with scarlet or yellow. Corolla.—Tubular; six lines to over an inch long; the upper lip equaling the tube; the lower very short; three-toothed; the whole tinged with red or yellow. Stamens.—Four; inclosed in the upper lip. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long; exserted. Hab.—Throughout California.
Scarlet flowers are so rare, and nature is so chary of that beautiful hue, that these blossoms are especially welcome. Their dense tufts make brilliant dashes of color, which are very noticeable amid the vivid greens of springtime. Strange to say, most of their brilliancy is due not to the corollas, but to the large petal-like bracts under the flowers and to the calyxes. In the vicinity of the seashore these blossoms may be found at almost any time of the year, while inland they have their season of bloom in the spring, resting for the most part during the summer.
They are known in some localities as "Indian plume." The specific name is a very misleading one—for these flowers, far from being small, are in reality comparatively large and fine. The species was probably first named from poor or depauperate specimens. It is in every way a larger, more showy flower than the closely allied species—C. coccinea, Spreng.—of the East, commonly known as the "painted cup."
We have a number of species closely resembling one another. C. foliolosa, Hook. and Arn., may be easily recognized by its white-woolly stems and foliage.
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