Castilleja nelsonii

Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial with villous stems with spreading hairs, 10-65 cm tall. Leaves: Entire, thin and lax, linear to linear-lanceolate or oblanceolate, to 6 cm long, glabrous to sparsely scabrous on the upper surface, hispid or villous on the lower surface. Flowers: Short dense spike, floral bracts obovate, shorter and wider than leaves, entire or with acute lateral teeth, green with red apex, glandular-pubescent, villous on veins and margins; calyx equally cleft about a third the length of the tube on both upper and lower sides, lateral lobes acuminate, tube yellow and villous, becoming red and glandular at apex; corolla exserted, 15-30 mm long. Fruits: Loculicidal capsule with numerous seeds. Ecology: Found in montane forests 6,500-10,000 ft (1981-3048 m); flowers May-September. Notes: Distinguished by the linear to lance shaped leaves, the stiff spreading hairs, bright red bracts, and its large size. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genus have uses. Etymology: Castilleja is for the Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo (1744-1793), while austromontana means of the southern mountains. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley, 2010