Castilleja raupii : Raup's Indian Paintbrush

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Scrophulariaceae (Figwort Family)

Genera: Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush) (Named for Don Domingo Castellejo, an 18th century Spanish botanist)

Species: raupii (named for Hugh Miller Raup, 1901-?, a professor at Harvard and a botanical explorer in N.W. Canada)

English Name(s):

Raup's Indian Paintbrush, Purple Indian Paintbrush

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Plant Herbaceous (Not woody) tufted.
• From a short weak branching taproot.
• Stems one to several, 20-40cm high, simple (unbranched) or branched above, green or purpleish, cobwebby-villose (long hairy).

Leaves:

• Linear or narrowly acuminate (long tappering) in shape.
• 4-5cm long.
• occasionally with a pair of slender lateral lobes.
• Surfaces finely pubescent (hairy) on both sides.

Reproductive Parts:

• Inflorescence (flower cluster) elongating in maturity.
• Flowers perfect (bisexual), and irregular in symetry.
• Bracts oval to lanceolate in shape, often with a pair of lateral lobes, Purpleish, sparsely pubescent, or with margins hirsute.
• Calyx (sepals) 13-20mm long, with lateral lobes 0.5-3.5 mm long, purpleish, sparsely pubescent.
• Corolla (petals) 15-20 or more mm long,upper lip 4-6mm long, green, lower lip 2-3mm long, with distinct lobes, purplish.
• Stamens (male parts) 4, in 2 pairs, anther (top part) sacs unequal.

Seed:

• Fruit a capsule.
• Seed capsules 2-locular (chambered), spliting open lengthwise between the partitions, 8-11mm long.
• Seeds numerous with a coat of large, netted, translucent cells.

Not to Be Confused With:

• This is the only Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush) in our area with purplish inflorescence (flower clusters).

Physiology:

• Partially parasitic on roots of other plants. Particularily grass like plants.
• Are capable of carying out thier full life cycle with out parasitizing other plants. However by being parasitic on its nieghbours gives it a strategic advantage.
• This genus is puzzling to the taxonomists, due to the variability of charactaristic features, and due to the presence of hybrids in areas where species meet.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial

Seasonal Cycle:

• plants deciduous (dieing back).
• Blooming mid-July.

Animal Uses:

• Plants in this genus are well suited to the needs of Hummingbirds. Some researchers think Castilleja (Indian Paintbrush) and Hummingbirds may have evolved together. Though there are few to no hummingbirds in Central Yukon.

Habitat:

• Riverbanks and lakeshores to slopes near tree line.

Modern:

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Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

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Traditional Other:

Folklore:

• Nevada Natives believed that the rattlesnake distilled poison from these flowers because they grew near rocks where the snakes lived.
• Tea made from these plants was taken as a love medicine and flower was put into love charms.

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