Castilleja lineariloba

Sagebrush indian paintbrush

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: annual · Native

Sagebrush indian paintbrush is a California native annual found in the central Sierra Nevada and Sierra Nevada Foothill regions in grassland habitats at elevations below 1,800 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces white to pale yellow and pale purple flowers with cream-tipped bracts in compact inflorescences 2 to 5 centimeters long. Growing with stiffly spreading stems 15 to 45 centimeters tall and glandular-hairy throughout, it develops a distinctive growth habit. Its leaves are lance-linear, ranging 20 to 75 millimeters long, with 0 to 7 narrow lobes that contribute to its delicate appearance. The flower's corolla features a straight 4 to 5 millimeter beak and lower lip with purple-dotted pouches, adding intricate visual complexity to this slender annual.

Habitat: Grassland

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: < 1800 m

Bioregions: SNF, c SNH.

California counties: Madera, Kern, Tulare, Fresno, San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Mariposa, El Dorado, Calaveras, Butte, Nevada, Tehama, Shasta, Amador, Stanislaus, Placer, Yolo, Plumas, Yuba

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