Indian Paintbrush is native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, as well as northeast Asia. It is known botanically as Castilleja and is commonly called  Prairie-fire.

 

Indian Paintbrush is a perennial, and has a cluster of stems that grow upward from the base, can grow up to 60 cm tall.

 

The plant has bright colors which derive their color not from its flowers but from bracts, the leaf-like structures around the flowers, which grow shorter, wider, and more lobed toward the top, often with color highlights at the tips. The color of this plant is mainly on the leaf bracts. Actual flowers are inconspicuous, but are commonly enveloped by bright red flowerlike bracts.The flowers are set in clusters long, tube-like; pale green to red on the ends. Flowers resemble a crude brush that has been dipped in paint. The fruit is a capsules with many seeds. The roots of the painted cups are partially parasitic on the roots of other green plants. The plant Paintbrush is semi-parasitic on the roots of grasses.

 

Castilleja would usually grow in moist areas, dry areas, and sandy prairies. Its zones range from 3 to 9. The seeds of the Indian Paintbrush usually germinate in the fall and bloom the next spring without pre-treatment. The plant prefers full sun and/or small amounts of shade.

 

The Indian paintbrush has the ability to grow and survive in serpentine soils, which most species are not equipped to handle the stressful amounts of high magnesium, low calcium and overloaded amounts of metals such as chromium and nickel.

 

Did you know?

·        The genus Castilleja includes some 200 species.

·        The genus was named in the late 18th century for Domingo Castillejo (1744-1793), a Spanish botany professor

·        It was adopted on January 31, 1917 as the state flower ofWyoming.

·        The plant received it's name 'paintbrush' as the tops look like they have been dipped in bright red paint.