Castilleja yukonis : Yukon 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: yukonis (Named for Yukon Territory where this species was first found)

English Name(s):

Yukon Indian Paintbrush,

First Nation Names:

Structure:

• Plant Herbaceous (Not woody) tufted.
• From a short weak branching taproot.
• Stems one ot two together, or forming a tussock, slender, 15-20cm high, purplish, short-pubescent (hairy).

Leaves:

• Linear to lance-linear in shape.
• 2-10cm long.
• 3-nerved (veined).
• Surfaces finely crisp-pubescent.

Reproductive Parts:

• Flowers perfect (bisexual), and irregular in symetry.
• Bracts lanceolate in shape, entire (not lobed) or with 1-3 pairs of side lobes, yellowish green.
• Calyx (sepals) 13-18mm long, with lateral lobes 1-4mm long.
• corolla (petals) 16-25mm long, with upper lip very narrow and much longer than 3-lobed lower lip.
• 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, 8-10mm long.
• Seeds numerous with a coat of large, netted, translucent cells.

Not to Be Confused With:

• Castilleja hyperarctica (Northern Indian Paintbursh) which can be distinguished by its forked leaves.
• Castilleja caudata (Pale Indian Paintbursh) which can be distinguished by its side calyx (sepal) lobes as long as tube or longer.

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).

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:

• Hillsides, and silt and gravel or rivderbanks.

Modern:

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Medicinal:

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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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