Castilleja applegatei Fernald
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Authority
Holmgren, Noel H. 1971. A taxonomic revision of the Castilleja viscidula group. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 21: 1-63.
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Family
Scrophulariaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Perennial herb from a woody caudex, its stems several, clustered, ascending to erect, 1-6 dm high, branched or unbranched, glandular-pubescent with short gland-tipped hairs, these interspersed with longer glandless, sometimes viscid hairs, becoming hirsute to villose, always viscid-villose in the inflorescence. Leaves (1.2-)1.8-4(-7) cm long, glandular-pubescent, often with longer nonglandular hairs at the base and sometimes ascending the ribs and margins, and short white hairs at the tips, the lower leaves linear-lanceolate, mostly entire, the upper leaves usually broader, linear to lanceolate, sometimes ovate, wavymargined, sometimes all entire or usually with a pair of slender lateral lobes. Bracts shorter and broader than the leaves, usually with 1 or 2 pairs of lateral lobes, usually red-tipped, sometimes orangish to rarely yellowish, pubescence as on the leaves, but usually more villose towards the base. Calyx (13-) 16- 24(-26) mm long, the abaxial cleft (4-)5-11 (-15) mm deep, the shghtly deeper adaxial cleft (5-) 6-12 (-15) mm deep, these clefts separating 2 primary lobes for more or less 1/2 the calyx length, each lobe divided 2/5 to 4/5 its length into 2 lanceolate, acute segments, 2-10 mm long, bearing the same color as the bract tips, the tube usually hispid to villose, often viscid-villose at the base, diminishing distally to a short glandular-pubescence. Corolla (18-) 20-30 (-37) mm long; galea 1/2 to slightly more than 1/2 the corolla length, (6-) 10-16(-18) mm long, dorsally green, puberulent, its lateral margins usually glabrous and the same color as the calyx segments and bract tips, or slightly darker with a purplish cast; lower lip usually dark greenish, sometimes pinkish to violet; tube (11-) 12-19(-21) mm long. Stamens exserted beyond the galea tip, rarely included at maturity, the upper anthers (1.7-)2-2.7(-3.2) mm long. Stigma exserted beyond the galea tip, 0.25-0.85 mm thick. Capsules (7-) 8-15 (-17) mm long, narrow-ovoid, ovoid to ellipsoid.
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Discussion
Castilleja applegatei is a large and complex species. In attempting to make taxonomic sense out of its complexity I have separated the three most distinctive outlying races as separate varieties from a central intergrading complex. The three outliers are varieties pallida, viscida, and applegatei. The central trunk is var fragilis, which consists of several physiologic, cytodemic, and weak morphologic races. These races appear to intergrade too much to allow further taxonomic subdividing. A careful biosystematic study of var fragilis m a y yield some interesting ideas about speciation. Although the four taxa are relatively easy to characterize in the key, their differences are much less than those between other species accepted by m e in the C. viscidula group.
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Distribution
Habitat and distribution. Collected in flower from (April) June to early September at elevations from 1000 to 11,500 feet, in dry habitats. Mountain ranges of southwestern Wyoming, northern and central Utah, across the Sawtooth Range of central Idaho, the uplands of eastern Oregon and northern Nevada to the southern Cascade Range and the Klamath mountains of western Oregon and northern California, and south along the northern Inner Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada of California (Figs. 7 and 8).
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