Castilleja subinclusa subsp. franciscana

Family: Orobanchaceae · Type: perennial · Native

San Francisco paintbrush is a California native perennial found in southern North Coast, northern Central Coast, and western San Francisco Bay bioregions in coastal scrub habitats at elevations below 100 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces striking two-colored flowers with red and yellow hues, creating distinctive and vibrant inflorescences. Growing with erect stems, it develops slender flowering structures with curved calyx lobes that arch upward in a delicate arc. Its leaves and bracts blend with the colorful floral display, supporting the yellow-orange blossoms characteristic of this coastal paintbrush subspecies. This rare paintbrush represents a unique botanical gem of California's coastal ecosystems, with its chromosomal variation indicating significant genetic complexity.

Habitat: Coastal scrub

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 100 m

Bioregions: s NCo (s Mendocino, Sonoma cos.), n CCo (to Santa Cruz Co.), w SnFrB.

California counties: San Mateo, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Marin, Contra Costa, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Humboldt, Alameda, Monterey, San Francisco, Napa, Ventura, El Dorado

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