Castilleja Praeterita, Salmon Creek Indian Paintbrush

Castilleja praeterita is found only across a 100-mile section of the southern Sierra Nevada, where it grows in dry, grassy places at medium elevations. Stems, leaves and bracts are covered by stiff, spreading, non-glandular hairs, The narrow, linear leaves may have a pair of side lobes, a little way above or below the middle.

The narrow inflorescence occupies up to 5 inches at the top of the stem, and may be either greenish-yellow or orange to reddish-purple. The bracts, up to 1 inch long, are divided into a broad central lobe with a flattish or rounded tip, and two (less often four) narrower lateral lobes. Flowers are slightly shorter than the bracts; they have an unequally divided calyx and a green to purple corolla that may be shorter than the calyx and so not always visible.