INDIAN PAINTBRUSH (Painted Cup) 

 Castilleja coccinea (L.) Spreng. 



May - June 



Open hills, roadsides 



The Indian paintbnisli or painted cup seems 

 1)1(11-1' like a wcstoni llower tlian one of the cen- 

 Iral or eastern pUints, and it is true that it very 

 likely migrated into Illinois with the coming of other plants of the Great 

 Plains. Paintbrush is most commonly known as part of that western 

 scene wliich incliidcs the rarilied air of mountains or the dusty roadsides 

 of the plains. Indian })aintbrusii is a plant ui the ])rairies and sands, yet 

 in Colorado it may bo found from the lowest of the foothills where the 

 lark buntings fly, to the upper ilowcr meadows at ten thousand feet where 

 mountain bluebirds nest. In the sand country of IllijKtis. tJK^ Indian 

 l)aiutbrush also tiirives, but it is not eommon. 



Indian paintbnish was ajipropriately named lor a Spanish botanist 

 named Domingo Castillejo — -approj)riate because tlie Indian paintbnish 

 of the west was seen by the earliest Spanish explorers and adventurers 

 who penetrated that wild and unknown wikU'rness ol' sage and i-ocks and 

 rattlesnakes in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. 



The plant is a foot or two tall and gTOws in a clump. Tbin. narrow, 

 hain' leaves are placed alternately along the stem. Tbe (lower head is 

 compos(Hl of bright scarlet llower-like leaves and yellow eorolla tubes with 

 protruding pistils. The combination of the colored leaves and flowers 

 gives that dipped-in-paint effect which named the Indian paintbrush, a 

 name bv which it is known wherever it grows. The Castilleja is ]iara- 

 sitic upon the roots of other plants and therefon^ cannot be transplanted. 

 It blooms in Mav and June. 



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