Castilleja indivisa Engelm.

Texas Paintbrush; Entire Leaf Indian Paintbrush

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Texas Paintbrush is an introduced annual herb in the Broomrape family (Orobanchaceae). It is native to Texas and adjacent states. In Alabama it has been collected in scattered locations across the state. Texas Paintbrush is often included in wildflower seed mixes and was frequently planted along highways by the Alabama Department of Transportation in the past. It persists on roadsides and adjacent weedy areas. It is an annual with a tap root. The stems are solitary or branched, erect, green in color, and pubescent with spreading hairs and stalked glands. Leaves are alternate, sessile, not forming distinct rosettes, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate in outline, with wavy and sometimes lobed margins. Flowers are produced in terminal inflorescences. Each flower is subtended by a large scarlet or orangish bract. In some cultivated plants the bracts may be pink, peach, deep red, yellow, or white in color. Each flower has 4 sepals that form a tube that is green towards the base and pale red or yellow towards the tip. The corolla has 5 yellow or pink petals forming a tube. The fruit is a capsule with many small seed. Texas Paintbrush is a root-hemiparasite. When the seed germinates it must form a connection through the roots of a host plant (usually a grass) in order to continue development. Texas Paintbrush is commonly available as seed. The seed should be planted in the autumn in areas that have been mown and raked, but with the grass still present.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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