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 December
2001
 Iris
unguicularis
November
2001
Hymenoxis
herbacea
October
2001
Pellaea
atropurpurea
September
2001
Zauschneria
garrettii
August
2001
Platycodon
grandiflorum
'Sentimental
Blue'
July
2001
Callirhoe
involucrata
June
2001
Helianthemum
nummularium
hybrids
May
2001
Viola
pedata 'Bicolor'
April
2001
Anemonella
thalictroides
March
2001
Fritillaria
pudica
 February
2001
Castilleja
rupicola
January
2001
Lupinus
lepidus var. lobbii
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2000
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1999
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1998
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1997
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Plant
of the Month
February
2001
Castilleja
rupicola
by Iza Goroff
Castilleja
rupicola has long been considered a member of the
figwort family - Scrophularaceae which also includes
Penstemon, Antirrhinum (snapdragon), and Veronica among many
other garden plants. Castillejas are hemiparasitic,
parasitic on other plants even though their leaves contain
chlorophyll so they are able to collect energy from the sun.
Some DNA analysis suggests that castillejas and other
hemiparasites may be more closely related to the fully
parasitic Orobanchaceae, the broom-rapes. Other DNA analysis
disputes that. Castilleja
rupicola is native to rock crevices in the Cascade
Mountains from central Oregon into British Columbia at
elevations from as low as 4,000' (1,200 m) in the far north
of its range to above 7,200' (2,160 m) in Washington State.
The plant pictured above was probably at about 6,800', well
above tree line on Mt. Burroughs in Mt. Rainier National
Park.
Castilleja
rupicola is among the smallest of the castillejas.
The pictured plant was about 3" (8 cm) tall and 5" (12 cm)
in diameter. The "flowers" are really bracts, foliage near
the stem top which contains the insignificant flowers. In
Castilleja rupicola the galea,
actually the part of the flower containing the anthers, is
the yellow narrow pointed part which protrudes beyond the
bracts. Although the "flowers" on Mt. Burroughs are orange
red, those in other areas can range from red to magenta. The
leaves under the orange bracts are purple almost to the
base. The basal leaves are green.
Is
Castilleja rupicola parasitic?
The above picture shows no nearby plant, and we saw several
seemingly isolated plants. Others grew near
Erigeron aureus,
Aster alpigenus,
Phyllodoce glanduliflora, and
Smelowskia calycina. Perhaps
roots from other plants extend far from their crowns.
Also
pictured is Castilleja parviflora v.
oreopola growing with Cassiope
mertensiana nearby, but a few hundred feet lower.
That castilleja is likely to be parasitic on the
cassiope.
Castillejas
cannot be transplanted from the wild successfully. On rare
occasions people have raised them from seed, sometimes even
without a host plant. Since castillejas parasitize a wide
variety of plants, e.g. sedum, artemisia, and grasses, one
might try to plant castilleja seed with that of one or more
possible kind of host plants in the same pot, eventually
transplanting the entire contents of the pot, trying to
avoid root disturbance. Most castillejas are likely to be
temperature hardy; all are very difficult.
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