Castilleja septentrionalis is a species of Indian paintbrush

Castilleja

Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or Prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in Siberia...

 known by several different common names, including pale painted cup (in New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

 and Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

), northern painted cup (in Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

), pale Indian paintbrush (in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

), and Labrador Indian paintbrush. The scientific name "Castilleja pallida (L.) Spreng. var. septentrionalis (Lindl.) Gray" has also been used in the past to describe this species.

According to the White Mountain National Forest

White Mountain National Forest

The White Mountain National Forest is a federally-managed forest contained within the White Mountains in the northeastern United States. It was established in 1918 as a result of the Weeks Act of 1911; federal acquisition of land had already begun in 1914. It has a total area of...

 botanist Chris Mattrick, "The stunning beauty of the inflorescence stands out in sharp contrast to the green and gray background of the alpine habitats in New England and elicits many complimentary remarks from the passerby."

Distribution

Its distribution extends from Labrador

Labrador

Labrador is the distinct, northerly region of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It comprises the mainland portion of the province, separated from the island of Newfoundland by the Strait of Belle Isle...

 and Newfoundland to Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, at the northern edge of its range, and from Maine as far west as Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. In New Hampshire, it is an alpine

Alpine plant

Alpine plants are plants that grow in the alpine climate, which occurs at high elevation and above the tree line. Alpine plants grow together as a plant community in alpine tundra.-Alpine plant diversity:...

 obligate, typically found in patch communities associated with heavy late-melting snow, which provides not only moisture but also protection from weather. It is found only in northern regions or at high elevations; the species name "septentrionalis" means "northern."

New Hampshire, Vermont, and Michigan designate C. septentrionalis as "Threatened"; Maine labels it "Special Concern"; Minnesota considers it "Endangered". It is not listed as a threatened species at the federal level.

Description

C. septentrionalis is a perennial herb with small narrow leaves, growing typically in small dense colonies. Like many other Castilleja species, it gets some of its nutrients from parasitizing the roots of other plants.

Shoots are typically unbranched, becoming hairy only on their upper portions, with alternate simple leaves that are sessile

Sessility (botany)

In botany, sessility is a characteristic of plants whose flowers or leaves are borne directly from the stem or peduncle, and thus lack a petiole or pedicel...

 (have no pedicel

Pedicel (botany)

A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....

) The crowded flower clusters appear at the end of stems

Each flower cluster consists of tubular greenish-white flowers surrounded by cream-colored or purple-tinged bracts.