Hurriedly, skillfully, he painted the sunset, casting aside the brushes as he finished in his haste to capture the fleeting colors.
#Indian paintbrush seeds full#
Scattered in the grass were brushes full of bright paint. Then a dream vision, praising his art's contribution to his people, sent him up his favorite hill at sunset. In particular, he wanted to paint the brilliant colors of the sunset. He gathered rocks and plants to make his colors, but always wished for brighter ones. As he grew, he recorded the tribe's history in beautiful paintings. The book tells of a boy, Little Gopher, who was too small to do well at hunting or fighting, and was comforted by a dream vision that instructed him to pursue his talent for art. There is a Native American story, retold by Tomie dePaola as lovely picturebook, that recounts a legend of the origin of Indian paintbrush plants, a story told by a number of North American tribes. If you look carefully you can see the green flowers Presumably the name paintbrush refers both the variety of colors and the shape of the flower head. The bracts can be any shade from white through yellow and orange to red. The flowers are green, but surrounded by bright bracts (modified leaves) that make the plants so colorful and visible. The USDA gives the common name owl's clover to two species, calls one johnny nip and another cream sacs for another species of Castilleja, but all the rest are called some version of Indian paintbrush. North America has most of this genus, although a few species migrated to Eurasia and South America.
See the diversity of the flowers in the Wikipedia article link). There are a lot species of Indian paintbrush-160 in North America!-all but a couple native to the western half of the continent (view USDA plants species maps and marvel link. Indian paintbrush, Castilleja, in western Wyoming
Also called flame flower, prairie-fire, squaw feather, and painted cups, the Castilleja species, now classified in the owl clover family, Orobanchaceae, but long considered figworts, Scrophulariaceae, are handsome wildflowers. The seeds can be dumped out of upright capsules a few weeks after flowering.They're a splash of orange on the mountainside or of red in the meadow: Indian paintbrushes. The plant provides early nectar for hummingbirds and has a long bloom time. Uses and Notes of Interest: The bright crimson of this paintbrush is one of the most welcome sights of spring in sagebrush country. Direct seeding in autumn around already-established "buddy" plants can also be successful. Survival after outplanting is high, and paintbrush plants often flower the first year. When we have sturdy plants 3-4" tall, we pot them up with a "buddy" of another species in a gallon container and grow them together for 8-12 weeks of pot-cohabitation. When the radicles emerge (after 8-12 weeks in chilling), we plant the seeds in tubes or book planter cells and grow them out under strong light for 12-16 weeks. The seeds, which are tiny and encased in delicate net bags that are beautiful to behold under a microscope, are dormant and require moist chilling to germinate. This makes paintbrushes a little tricky to propagate.Ĭulture: We have had success propagating several paintbrush species using the following protocol. Like many of its relatives, it is a water parasite that survives drought by attaching to the roots of other plants-it is not fussy about which plants, utilizing many species of flowers, shrubs, and grasses. Drought hardy (i.e., needs no supplemental water after establishment on the Wasatch Front). Leaves: lance-shaped, the upper ones three-lobedįlower Color: bracts and calyx brilliant crimson, corollas yellowish greenįlower Form: flowers borne in dense terminal spikes corollas slender, inconspicuous, with elongate beak (galea).įlowering Season: early spring to early summerĬultural Requirements: Prefers full sun and rich to well-drained soils, but tolerates partial shade. Habitat: creosote bush, blackbrush, salt desert shrub, sagebrush, and pinyon- juniper communitiesįoliage Color: dark green, covered with stiff, whitish hairs Other Common Names: Desert Paintbrush, Spring Paintbrushįamily: Figwort Family (Scrophulariaceae)ĭistribution: common and widely distributed in the Intermountain West Indian Paintbrush FACT SHEET: Indian Paintbrush
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