Scientific name: Castilleja miniata

Facts: Paintbrush is a common native wildflower that is known to most people who spend any time in the woods or prairies of North America. There are about 100 species of paintbrush, and this one is one of the most common. It grows throughout the western half of the continent, from Alaska to New Mexico.

When flowering, it’s from 1-21/2 feet tall with narrow, erect stems. The top part of the plant is bright scarlet, looking like it had been dipped in paint.

It would surprise most people to learn that the flowers of paintbrush are not showy or brightly colored. In fact, most people never see the flowers, because they are hidden by brightly colored bracts.

If you bend down one of the bright bracts, you will find a slender, tube-shaped greenish or yellowish-green pointed object about one to two inches long. That is the flower. Around the base of the flower is a brightly-colored shorter tube that forms the sepals.

Many of the 26 species of paint brush species in the Blue Mountains are not red at all, but yellowish or greenish, or in some cases reddish-purple or reddish-orange.

One Northwest American Indian tribe used to consider red paintbrush as a sacred plant, and forbade their children from picking it. Hummingbirds use it as a source of nectar.

Where to find them: Though most paintbrush species are dried up by this time of year, red paintbrush can still be seen along roadways and along the edges of forest openings at middle to upper elevations throughout the Blue Mountains.