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Home / Browse / Castilleja / Exserted Indian Paintbrush (subsp. venusta)
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Pictured: Castilleja exserta — the species. This subspecies isn’t separately illustrated.
Scrophulariaceae family

Exserted Indian Paintbrush (subsp. venusta) Castilleja exserta subsp. venusta subspecies

Native

Exserted Indian Paintbrush (subsp. venusta) is an annual wildflower native to the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Castilleja exserta is a species of plant in the genus Castilleja which includes the Indian paintbrushes. Its common names include purple owl's clover, escobita, and exserted Indian paintbrush. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Annual
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~5 caterpillar species

Castilleja supports ~5 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus.

Recorded feeding on Castilleja in North America, including:

Amblyptilia pica · Geranium Plume Moth Argyrotaenia franciscana · Orange Tortrix Charidryas palla · brush-footed butterfly Endothenia hebesana · Verbena Bud Moth Euphydryas anicia · Anicia Checkerspot Euphydryas chalcedona · Variable Checkerspot
+ 8 more species →
Euphydryas editha · Bay Checkerspot Euphydryas gillettii · brush-footed butterfly Eupithecia anticaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Eupithecia nimbicolor · geometer (inchworm) moth Grammia nevadensis · Nevada Tiger Moth Grammia oithona · tiger moth Heliothis oregonica · Oregon Gem Heliothis proruptus · owlet moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (12) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[10] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[11] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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