Brilliant Splashes of Color

Indian Paintbrush in the desert

I bring this post to you by popular demand, thanks Kym!

Indian paintbrushes are fun to see, they tend to bring a bright splash of color to desert hillsides. There are many species of Indian paintbrush and they can be quite difficult to identify, so I'm just sticking to the genus (Castilleja). Paintbrushes belong to the Snapdragon Family (Scrophulariaceae). They come in all sorts of bright colors, yellow, pink, orange and red. Although, it seems most people tend to associate them with red.

Indian paintbrush plant

Indian Paintbrush are partially parasitic, which means they get some nutrients from the sun, but they also get some nutrients from the roots of other plants. Paintbrush parasitizes directly from the roots of plants, unlike snow plants who parasitize the fungi surrounding plant roots--mycotrophic. In Nevada, a plant that paintbrush likes to parasitize is sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata).

Indian Paintbrush close up

It's interesting to note that the bright parts of this plant are not actually the flowers, they are modified leaves that form a bract. The actual flower is hidden within the of bright leaves toward the top of the plant. The flowers of the Indian paintbrush are edible, however, they tend to absorb selenium from the soil, so you want to be careful in eating them and not eat them in large quantities.