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Snow Indian Paintbrush - Castilleja nivea
State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
DRAFT: Requesting feedback on the 2026 revised rank and factors in outlined in the Conservation Status Rank Report.
Castilleja nivea is a regional endemic of of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, where it is known from alpine habitats in several mountain ranges, including the Beartooth Plateau, Crazy Mtns and the Tobacco Root Mtns. Population levels and trends are unknown, though populations have likely been relatively stable or experienced only minor declines as the habitat is intact and largely remote. However, two sites occur adajcent to a road, which increases the likelihood of negative impacts. No other significant or potential threats are known beyond those potentially posed by climate change to this species, which occupies cool, mesic, alpine environments.
Surveys are needed at almost all the known sites to document population size and extent, and the habitat condition. Monitoring of a subset of populations is needed to be able to determine potential population trends.
General Description
Perennial. Stems erect, simple, 5–12 cm. Herbage puberulent to villous. Leaves linear, 2–4 cm long, the lower entire, upper 3-lobed. Inflorescence villous-tomentose; bracts yellow- to purple-tipped, lanceolate with a pair of linear lobes. Flowers: calyx yellow, linear-lanceolate, 15–20 mm long, subequally cleft into 4 linear-lanceolate lobes, 4–5 mm long; corolla 10–22 mm long, galea 4–6 mm long, lower lip 2–3 mm long (
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Diagnostic Characteristics
Castilleja is a difficult genus because hybridization and allopolyploid speciation (containment of multiple sets of chromosomes that are derived from different species) fuzz a species’ characteristics (Giblin et al. [eds.] 2018).
To identify
Castilleja species, it is important to (Giblin et al. [eds.] 2018):
* note colors of the bract, calyx, and corolla while in the field, and
* press many bracts, calyces, and corollas separately to show their shapes.
Snow Indian Paintbrush -
Castilleja nivea, native:
* Bracts are yellow to purple-tipped and woolly-villous.
* Upper third of the stem with green, lobed leaves.
* Lobes of the calyx are cleft to about the same length.
* Inflorescence villous-tomentose.
* Montana plants occur in the alpine zone (turf and fellfields).
Parrot-head Indian Paintbrush -
Castilleja pilosa var.
longispica, native:
* Bracts are green to yellow or purplish.
* Upper third of the stem with green, lobed leaves.
* Lobes of the calyx are cleft to about the same length.
* Inflorescence with puberulent to sparsely villous hairs.
* Montana plants occur in montane to subalpine zones.
Pallid Indian Paintbrush -
Castilleja pallescens, native:
* Bracts are green to yellow or purple-tipped. Calyx is yellow.
* Upper third of the stem with green, often with linear lobed leaves, or at least the central lobe is linear.
* Lobes of the calyx are cleft more deeply in front and back than compared to the sides.
* Ultimate calyx lobes are acute to acuminate.
* Galea is 2-4 mm. Lower corolla lip is 2-3 mm. Thus, lower lip is more than half the length of the galea.
* Inflorescence with puberulent to pilose hairs.
* Montana plants occur in valleys to alpine zones.
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
Endemic to southwest Montana and adjacent Wyoming (Lesica et al. 2012).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 30
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Alpine tundra and fellfields.
National Vegetation Classification System Groups Associated with this Species
Alpine
Alpine - Vegetated
Wetland and Riparian
Alpine Riparian and Wetland
Ecology
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus appositus,
Bombus bifarius,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus melanopygus,
Bombus sylvicola,
Bombus occidentalis, and
Bombus kirbiellus (Macior 1974, Thorp et al. 1983, Bauer 1983, Mayer et al. 2000, Wilson et al. 2010, Pyke et al. 2012, Koch et al. 2012, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014, Williams et al. 2014).
Stewardship Responsibility
Threats or Limiting Factors
STATE THREAT SCORE REASON
Threat impact not assigned because threats are not known (MTNHP Threat Assessment 2021).
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Bauer, P.J. 1983. Bumblebee pollination relationships on the Beartooth Plateau tundra of Southern Montana. American Journal of Botany. 70(1): 134-144.
Cronquist, A., A.H. Holmgren, N.H. Holmgren, J.L. Reveal, and P.K. Holmgren. 1984. Intermountain Flora: Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A. Vol. 4, Subclass Asteridae (except Asteraceae). Bronx, NY: New York Botanical Garden. 573 pp.- Hitchcock, C.L. and A. Cronquist. 2018. Flora of the Pacific Northwest: An Illustrated Manual. Second Edition. Giblin, D.E., B.S. Legler, P.F. Zika, and R.G. Olmstead (eds). Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press in Association with Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. 882 p.
- Koch, J., J. Strange, and P. Williams. 2012. Bumble bees of the western United States. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service, Pollinator Partnership. 143 p.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
- Macior, L.M. 1974. Pollination ecology of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Melanderia 15: 1-59.
- Mayer, D.F., E.R. Miliczky, B.F. Finnigan, and C.A. Johnson. 2000. The bee fauna (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) of southeastern Washington. Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia 97: 25-31.
- Miller-Struttmann, N.E. and C. Galen. 2014. High-altitude multi-taskers: bumble bee food plant use broadens along an altitudinal productivity gradient. Oecologia 176:1033-1045.
- MTNHP Threat Assessment. 2021. State Threat Score Assignment and Assessment of Reported Threats from 2006 to 2021 for State-listed Vascular Plants. Botany Program, Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana.
- Pyke, G.H., D.W. Inouye, and J.D. Thomson. 2012. Local geographic distributions of bumble bees near Crested Butte, Colorado: competition and community structure revisited. Environmental Entomology 41(6): 1332-1349.
- Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
- Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 p.
- Wilson, J.S., L.E. Wilson, L.D. Loftis, and T. Griswold. 2010. The montane bee fauna of north central Washington, USA, with floral associations. Western North American Naturalist 70(2): 198-207.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
- Williams, K.L. 2012. Classification of the grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, forests and alpine vegetation associations of the Custer National Forest portion of the Beartooth Mountains in southcentral Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 376 p.
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