So, the next time you see Indian Paintbrush growing alongside Texas Bluebonnets, you can pretty much know what’s going on. When the roots of the Indian Paintbrush come in contact with the roots of other plants and grasses, they latch on to their neighbor’s roots to get additional nutrients. This means that the Indian Paintbrush rely on other plants to grow. And, Native Americans soaked the plant in grease to make a hair oil.ĭon’t be alarmed. The Navajo Indians also used the plant for medicinal purposes. The name Grandmother’s Hair is attributed to the Chippewa Indians who used the plant to treat women’s diseases and rheumatism. Most folks prefer to call it by its most popular name - Indian Paintbrush. This beautiful flower is also known by other names like Texas Paintbrush, Scarlet Paintbrush, Grandmother’s Hair, Common Red Paintbrush, Butterfly Weed, Prairie Fire, Painted Cup, and Painted Lady. The Indian Paintbrush has several aliases and uses. Another similar Native American legend also involves an artist whose discarded paint brushes became flowers.Ģ. These paint bushes later blossomed into plants. After completing his work, the artist then discarded his used paintbrushes around the landscape. The Great Spirit provided him with paintbrushes to create his painting. Frustrated that he could not produce any of the colors that matched the beauty of a sunset, he asked the Great Spirit for help. The name of this flower is based on the legend of an Indian who wanted to paint a sunset. Here are five interesting facts about this costar in the Lone Star State’s springtime wildflower extravaganza. These two flowers are often seen together, complementing one another on nature’s springtime screen. The Indian Paintbrush, another beautiful flower, has earned a costarring role alongside the bluebonnet. This beautiful state flower is always a sight to behold when it makes its debut along our highways and byways. The genus Castilleja, formerly belonging the family Scrophulariaceae (figwort), has recently been transferred to the family Orobanchaceae (broomrape).The magnificent Texas Bluebonnet is the undisputed star of the wildflower show that premiers every spring in the Lone Star State. Lamiales (mints, plantains, olives, and allies)Ĭastilleja coccinea (scarlet Indian paintbrush) Streptophyta (land plants and green algae) Though it can survive on its own, it has a forty-fold increase in growth when it parasitizes the roots of other plants. They obtain water and mineral nutrients from the roots of grasses and forbs, but are also photosynthetic, producing chlorophyll. Plants in the genus Castilleja are hemiparasitic. coccinea) has scarlet bracts and calyces. Scarlet Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea f. The fruit is an asymmetrical, egg-shaped, ⅜ ″ long capsule containing numerous seeds. ![]() They are usually at least partially concealed by the colorful bracts. The corolla is inconspicuous, consisting of 5 petals fused for their entire length into a greenish-yellow tube that is 13 ⁄ 16 ″ to 1 1 ⁄ 16 ″ long, slightly longer than the calyx. The calyx is ⅝ ″ to 1 ″ long, yellowish, and divided into 2 rounded lobes. ![]() The bracts are lance-shaped, usually deeply 3-lobed, occasionally 5-lobed, wholly or mostly yellow. When in fruit the spike is 4 ″ to 8 ″ long.Įach flower is subtended by a large leaf-like bract. The inflorescence is a dense, yellow, 1 ½ ″ to 2 ⅜ ″ long spike at the end of the stem. The lower surface is hairy along the veins. Some leaves are cleft with 3 to 5 linear lobes, the central lobe longer and broader than the lateral lobes. Stem leaves are variable in form, linear to lance-shaped, 1 ¼ ″ to 3 ¼ ″ long, and up to ⅜ ″ wide. The stems are ascending to erect, slender, usually unbranched, and covered with short, fine hairs.īasal leaves are inversely lance-shaped to egg-shaped, unlobed, up to 3 ¼ ″ long, and up to ¾ ″ wide. In the second year it sends up flowering stems. In the first year it develops a rosette of basal leaves. lutescens) is a 5 ″ to 24 ″ tall, erect, annual or biennial, hemiparasitic forb that rises on usually a single stem from a taproot rhizome caudex.
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