Castilleja mollis

Soft-leaved paintbrush

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Endangered

Soft-leaved paintbrush is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native perennial found in the northern Channel Islands, specifically on Santa Rosa and eastern San Miguel islands, in coastal dune habitats at elevations below 20 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces yellow-green flowers with pale margins, nestled among fleshy yellow-green bracts 15 to 20 millimeters long. Growing with white-woolly, prostrate stems 30 to 40 centimeters tall that are openly branched, it develops distinctive leafy axillary shoots. Its leaves are 10 to 30 millimeters long, oblong to obovate with rounded tips, growing entire along the plant's delicate structure. The fruit is approximately 16 millimeters long, with seeds featuring a deeply netted coat and ladder-like cell walls.

Habitat: Coastal dunes

Bloom period: Apr-Aug

Elevation: < 20 m

Bioregions: n ChI (Santa Rosa, e San Miguel islands).

California counties: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo

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