Castilleja

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Castilleja, commonly known as paintbrush, Indian paintbrush, or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial mostly herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia. These plants are classified in the broomrape family Orobanchaceae (following major rearrangements of the order Lamiales starting around 2001; sources which do not follow these reclassifications may place them in the Scrophulariaceae). They are hemiparasitic on the roots of grasses and forbs. The genus was named after Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo.

TaxonomyEdit

Castilleja was scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus the Younger using a partial description by José Celestino Bruno Mutis in 1782.<ref name="POWO Castilleja" /> The type species was Castilleja fissifolia from Columbia.<ref name="Pacific Flora">Template:Cite book</ref> The genus as a whole has never been renamed, however five others were described and named that are considered to be synonyms of Castilleja.<ref name="POWO Castilleja" /> For example, in 1818 Thomas Nuttall described a genus that he named Euchroma meaning finely colored, moving the species now known as Castilleja coccinea out of Bartsia where it had been placed by Carl Linnaeus and also named another species as Euchroma grandiflora.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="POWO Castilleja" /> However, Nutttall's Euchroma grandiflora had already been named and correctly placed as Castilleja sessiliflora by Frederick Traugott Pursh in 1813.<ref name="POWO">Template:Cite POWO</ref>

SpeciesEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} There are 216 species that are considered valid by Plants of the World Online.<ref name="POWO Castilleja">Template:Cite POWO</ref> More than half, 119 species, are native to North America north of Mexico.<ref name="FNA" />

NamesEdit

The name Castilleja was chosen by Mutis as an honor for the Spanish naturalist Domingo Castillejo. Castillejo was a professor of medical materials and botany at the Cadiz Royal College of Surgery between 1770 and 1786. Mutis wrote in Latin, "Ab Stemodia quantum ex characteríbus video, valde diversa haec singularissimeplanta, proculdubio numeranda ínter Didynamas. Castillejam dixi in merítissimum honorem D. Castillejo Botanici Gadensis."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

DescriptionEdit

The species in Castilleja are quite varied in form and lifecycle. The genus includes many species that are completely herbaceous, lacking woody material in their above-ground parts. Though it also includes some slightly woody subshrubs and even a few woody shrubs.<ref name="FNA">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They may grow as annual plants, but most of the species are perennial.<ref name="4Corners">Template:Cite book</ref> Their roots are equally diverse in structure ranging from taproots to fibrous root systems. Some species also have modified underground stems called rhizomes to spread short distances.<ref name="FNA" />

Stem lengths range from a minute 1 centimeter to as much as 2 meters.<ref name="FNA" /> In almost all species the leaves are attached to the stems and alternating. The inflorescences are always at the ends of the stems, which may or may not branch.<ref name="4Corners" /> The inflorescence usually have bracts that are brightly colored for the whole length or towards their ends.<ref name="FNA" />

EcologyEdit

File:Yellow Indian Paintbrush in Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve 01.jpg

Castilleja flava in the Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve

Castilleja species are eaten by the larvae of some lepidopteran species, including Schinia cupes (which has been recorded on C. exserta) and Schinia pulchripennis (which feeds exclusively on C. exserta), and checkerspot butterflies, such as Euphydryas species.<ref name="HBB"/><ref name="Haan"/> Pollinators aid these plants in reproduction, with insects visiting the flowers, as well as hummingbirds for some species.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Castilleja species can play an important role in plant community dynamics and multitrophic interactions. For example, Castilleja hemiparasitic reliance on other plant species may affect competition and dominance among other plant species in its community.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Additionally, the foliage of some Castilleja species naturally contains defensive compounds that are sequestered in the tissues of larvae of specialist insect species that have developed a tolerance for these compounds and are able to consume the foliage.<ref name="HBB">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Haan">Template:Cite journal</ref> These sequestered compounds then confer chemical protection against predators to larvae.<ref name="HBB"/><ref name="Haan"/>

HybridizationEdit

File:Seeds of putative Castilleja levisecta × C. hispida individual.jpg

Seeds of putative Castilleja levisecta × Castilleja hispida hybrid

Some species in the Castilleja genus are able to hybridize, especially when ploidy levels match, and hybrids may produce viable seed.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="DFW">Template:Cite report</ref><ref>Template:Cite report</ref> This hybridization potential has been identified as a threat to the genetic integrity of certain endangered Castilleja species.<ref name="DFW"/>

UsesEdit

The author Gregory L. Tilford claims that the flowers of Indian paintbrush are edible. However, these plants have a tendency to absorb and concentrate selenium in their tissues from the soils in which they grow, and can be potentially very toxic if the roots or green parts of the plant are consumed. Highly alkaline soils increase the selenium levels in the plants.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In addition Castilleja species will take up alkaloids from other plants when parasitizing them.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>