About Castilleja cinerea A.Gray
Castilleja cinerea A.Gray is a perennial herb that reaches up to 15 centimeters in height, and is covered in a layer of ash-gray woolly hairs. Its leaves are linear or narrowly lance-shaped, and measure one to two centimeters long. The plant's inflorescence is composed of fuzzy, dull to bright reddish or purplish pink bracts, from which smaller yellowish to greenish flowers emerge. The color of the inflorescence is affected by the plant's growing environment: plants growing on more northern-facing exposures tend to produce yellowish flowers, while those growing on southern-facing exposures have more reddish flowers. Like other species in the Castilleja genus, this plant parasitizes other plant species to obtain water and nutrients. C. cinerea most commonly parasitizes buckwheats (Eriogonum spp.) and sagebrushes (Artemisia spp.). This species grows in multiple types of habitat, including dry desert, sagebrush scrub, woodland, and coniferous forest. It also grows in the unique quartzite pebble plain habitat of local mountains, where it occurs alongside other local endemics such as Arenaria ursina.
