A few patches of orange red flowers in the road ditch caught my eye the other day, especially since I don’t have them growing near my home, and so I had to stop and get a photo of them. But the showy, eye catching color isn’t from the true greenish-yellow “flower” or corolla but from the scarlet colored specialized leaf bracts instead which attract hummingbirds who are the main pollinators of the Indian Paintbrush.

With over 200 species of Indian Paintbrush, the Castilleja coccinea, commonly known as Scarlet Indian paintbrush or Scarlet painted-cup, are found in my area. The species name coccinea means scarlet although sometimes the bracts are yellow and look like their ends have been dipped in paint, hence the common name paintbrush.

They are a hemiparasitic plant in which their roots grow until they touch the roots of other plants, frequently grasses, then penetrate the roots of these host plants, obtaining a portion of their nutrients.

Scarlet Indian Paintbrush