Castilleja pruinosa
Frosted indian paintbrush
Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Frosted indian paintbrush is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, northern California Range, central and northern Sierra Nevada, and Modoc Plateau in dry, open serpentine or forest edge habitats at elevations below 2,600 meters. Flowering from April to August, this plant produces bright red to orange-red flowers with green lower lips nestled within branched inflorescences 3 to 20 centimeters long. Growing with densely gray pubescent stems 30 to 80 centimeters tall and few-branched with short axillary shoots, it has a robust and distinctive appearance. Its leaves are 20 to 80 millimeters long, lance-shaped with 0 to 5 obtuse lobes, creating a textured and varied foliage structure. The fruit measures 8 to 15 millimeters long, with seeds featuring a deeply netted coat and distinctive ladder-like side walls.
Habitat: Dry, open serpentine or forest edge
Bloom period: Apr-Aug
Elevation: < 2600 m
Bioregions: NW, CaR, n&c SN, MP
California counties: Del Norte, Nevada, Placer, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Butte, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sierra, Alpine, Modoc, Yuba, Tuolumne, Trinity, Plumas, San Benito, Calaveras, Napa, Mariposa
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.