Participant Info

Species

Castilleja occidentalis

Family

Orobanhaceae [Scrophulariaceae]

CommonName

western paintbrush

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1912

LatestDate

2019

Ecosystem

montane, subalpine, tundra

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan

Passes

Bonito, Elwood, Music, Stony, Wolf Creek

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, near Elwood pass 2 Sept 2019

Comments

Western paintbrush has been often collected around the Valley in alpine meadows and rockfells. It is rarely found at elevations below the subalpine. It has a restricted and disjunct range in the USA, found mainly in Colorado, eastern Utah, and northern New Mexico, with a distant population by the Canadian border in western Montana. Note that the separation of Castilleja occidentalis and C. septentrionalis into species is by no means easy.

Annotation