Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Perennial with stems to 40 cm tall, herbage and inflorescence long and short villous.

Leaves: Lanceolate to linear blades to 8 cm long, lower ones often entire, upper ones typically pinnatifid with 2 pairs of divaricate linear lobes.

Flowers: Dense elongate spike, floral bracts shorter than flowers, pinnatifid, lobes linear-lanceolate, green at the base, scarlet at apex; calyx equally cleft to a third the length of the tube on both upper and lower sides, green with bright scarlet lobes; corolla 20-25 mm long, exserted, the upper hood half as long as the corolla tube, green and glandular-pubescent, margins red and glabrous, lower tip green a forth as long as upper hood, lateral lobes linear, longer than middle lobe.

Fruits: Loculicidal capsule 8-14 mm long.

Ecology: Found in sandy and rocky soils among the chaparral and shrubs from 2,000-8,000 ft (1524-2438 m); flowers April-June.

Notes: The narrow and pinnately linear leaves help to distinguish this species.

Ethnobotany: Used for stomachaches, weak or sore eyes, or as a means to regulate menstruation.

Etymology: Castilleja is for the Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo (1744-1793), angustifolia means having narrow foliage, dubia means doubtful, or not conforming to a pattern.

Synonyms: Castilleja chromosa, Castilleja ewanii, Castilleja martinii subsp. ewanii, Castilleja martinii var. ewanii, Castilleja pyramidalis

Editor: SBuckley, 2010