EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

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The Deceptive Paintbrush

Credit & Copyright:  Dr. Bruce G. Marcot
  

Explanation:  How aptly named is this beautiful splash of crimson adorning a woodland in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado?  We're just off Highway 9 south of Breckenridge by the also-aptly named Quandary Creek.   These are the blooms of the rosy paintbrush plant.  So why are they deceptive, and why is this a quandary?        For one, the beautiful crimson flowers ... are not flowers.   That is, they are actually modified leaves called bracts, that encircle the true flowers.   The true flowers are the long yellow-greenish tubes extruding from the base of the bracts.   You can also see a stigma sticking out from one of the flower tubes at the top of the photo to the left here, showing as a narrow black pin-head.  This plant is deceptive, eh?        And second, it's a bit of a quandary because, according to some sources, there are about two hundred species of Castilleja -- paintbrush -- growing in the American West. And some species hybridize. So it can be a quandary just to determine which species is which, and if it's a true species at all, and not a hybrid.    Paintbrushes enjoy shade, shown above growing from the base of a rotting log.  They also are hemiparasites, sometimes drawing nutrients from the roots of other plants. This is one beautiful, unusual, complicated, and deceptive plant!