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Native Plant Society of Texas

Indian Paintbrush

Castilleja indivisa

Other common name(s):

Texas Indian Paintbrush, Entireleaf Indian Paintbrush, Texas Paintbrush, Scarlet Paintbrush

Family:

Orobanchaceae (Broomrape Family)

Plant Ecoregion Distribution Map

Leaflet Tiles © Esri — Esri, DeLorme, NAVTEQ, TomTom, Intermap, iPC, USGS, FAO, NPS, NRCAN, GeoBase, Kadaster NL, Ordnance Survey, Esri Japan, METI, Esri China (Hong Kong), and the GIS User Community
Central Great Plains, Cross Timbers, East Central Texas Plains, Edwards Plateau, Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes, Texas Blackland Prairies, Western Gulf Coastal Plain
Broken Red Plains, Limestone Plains, Red Prairie
Carbonate Cross Timbers, Eastern Cross Timbers, Grand Prairie, Limestone Cut Plain, Western Cross Timbers
Bastrop Lost Pines, Floodplains and Low Terraces2, Northern Post Oak Savanna, Northern Prairie Outliers, San Antonio Prairie, Southern Post Oak Savanna
Balcones Canyonlands, Edwards Plateau Woodland, Llano Uplift, Semiarid Edwards Plateau
Coastal Sand Plain, Floodplains and Low Terraces4, Laguna Madre Barrier Island and Coastal Marshes, Lower Rio Grande Alluvial Floodplain, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Mid-Coast Barrier Islands and Coastal Marshes, Northern Humid Gulf Coastal Prairies, Southern Subhumid Gulf Coastal Prairies
Floodplains and Low Terraces1, Northern Blackland Prairie, Southern Blackland Prairie
Flatwoods, Pleistocene Fluvial Terraces, Southern Tertiary Uplands

Plant Characteristics

Growth Form

Herbaceous

Height

0.5
to
1.5
ft.

Spread

1
to
1.5
ft.

Leaf Retention

Deciduous

Lifespan

Annual

Habitat and Care Requirements

Soil Type(s)

Sand, Loam, Clay, Dry

Light Requirement

Sun

Water Requirement

Medium

Native Habitat

Grassland

Bloom and Attraction

Bloom Color

White, Green

Bloom Season

Spring, Summer

Seasonal Interest

Nectar, Larval Host

Wildlife Benefit

Butterflies, Hummingbirds

Maintenance

A very popular paintbrush. Grows as annual or biennial. Works well in a variety of soils in pocket prairies, wildflower meadows, or shortgrass meadows. Transplanting paintbrush may kill it. Castilleja species are hemiparasitic, especially on grasses, penetrating the host roots to obtain nutrients. Blooms can vary greatly from year to year depending on conditions. They sometimes produce a light yellow or pure white variation mixed in with the reds. Propagation: seed.

Comments

Blooms January-December but mostly spring and summer, depending on growing conditions. Its several unbranched stems form clumps, topped by bright-red, paintbrush-like spikes. Leaves are long and stalkless. The white to greenish flowers are less conspicuous than the red-tipped bracts below. The fruit is a capsule. Larval host: Buckeye Butterfly.

References

1) Griffith, Bryce, Omernick & Rodgers (2007). Ecoregions of Texas. 2) https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAIN13. 3) https://portal.torcherbaria.org/portal/taxa/index.php?taxon=Castilleja+indivisa&formsubmit=Search+Terms. 4) http://bonap.net/TDC/Image/Map?taxonType=Species&taxonId=16376&locationType=County&mapType=Normal. 5) Miller, George O., Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas 2nd Ed., 2013, pg 48. 6) Wasowski and Wasowski, Native Texas Plants Landscaping Region by Region, 1991, pg. 147. 7) https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=33064#null, 8) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja_indivisa#:~:text=C.,in%20the%20spring%20and%20summer.
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