Castilleja applegatei subsp. martinii

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Martin's paintbrush is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, eastern San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, southwestern California, eastern Sierra Nevada, and desert mountains in dry chaparral, open yellow-pine forest, and sagebrush scrub at elevations of 300 to 2,800 meters. Flowering from May to September, this plant produces flowers with yellow and reddish bracts in slender clusters with a distinctive long beak. Growing with erect stems 30 to 80 centimeters tall, it develops a robust and upright habit with multiple branching potential. Its leaves are typically simple with minimal lobing, creating a clean and structured appearance along the stem. The flowers feature a calyx 15 to 25 millimeters long with delicate ovate lobes, complemented by a corolla 25 to 40 millimeters in length with an elongated 12 to 18 millimeter beak.

Habitat: Dry chaparral, open yellow-pine forest, sagebrush scrub

Bloom period: May-Sep

Elevation: 300-2800 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRO, NCoRI, e SnFrB, SCoR, SW (exc ChI), SNE, DMtns

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Riverside, Los Angeles, Lake, San Benito, Stanislaus, Tulare, Yolo, Monterey, Santa Clara, Contra Costa, Sonoma, Napa, Mono, San Diego, Tehama, Ventura, Orange, Santa Barbara, Colusa, Mendocino, Placer, Shasta, Humboldt, Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Solano, Plumas, Alameda, Trinity, Siskiyou

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.