Castilleja latifolia

Monterey coast paintbrush, Monterey Coast Paintbrush

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Monterey coast paintbrush is a California native perennial ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in the central California Coast bioregion in coastal dunes and scrub at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from March to September, this plant produces bright red to yellow flowers on bracts 15 to 20 millimeters long with widely wedge-shaped forms. Growing 30 to 60 centimeters tall with gray-green stems that become purplish and somewhat bristly, it develops many short axillary shoots. Its leaves are relatively fleshy, 5 to 20 millimeters long, ranging from oblong to rounded with zero to three truncate-rounded lobes. The plant produces fruits 12 to 20 millimeters long with deeply netted seeds that have distinctive ladder-like walls.

Habitat: Coastal dunes, scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Sep

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: c&amps CCo.

California counties: San Francisco, Monterey, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Napa, Trinity, Marin, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Santa Barbara, Mendocino

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