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The plant is toxic if ingested by a horse. The bracts are showy and seem more petal-like, hairy, lobed in. Individual flowers are about inch long, tubular, green to yellow with a protruding style that often curves down at the tip. This species likes sand and grows in both prairies and open woods. It blooms in the spring with flowers that have a color range from pure white to wine with shades of pink and salmon. Flowers are clustered at the top of the plant and at the end of stems arising from leaf axils near the top of the plant, though most plants are unbranched. Ironically, this plant was used by Native Americans as both a love charm in food and as a poison used to against their enemies, as this species is known to have toxic properties. Seeds are contained in a chambered capsule with two divisions, and once ripe, the capsules split open and wind action helps scatter the up to three hundred seeds within each capsule. Although seeds can germinate the same season as when they are released, usually they germinate the following spring and produce a basal rosette that will flower the following season. Dock plants contain oxalates and can be poisonous if ingested in. Also, the lack of a lower petal lip denies insects a perch to rest on, favoring hovering organisms like bees and hummingbirds. Indian Rice Grass is highly palatable to domesticated. Hummingbirds have long bills that allow them to reach the nectar rewards at the end of long, tubular flowers. However, like most red flowers, this species is especially adapted for pollination by hummingbirds. This is somewhat surprising since the color red is difficult for insects to see. A variety of insects visit paintbrush flowers, especially bees. Despite being obligate parasites for part of their lives, these plants do rely on pollinators for reproduction. These plants are hemiparasites, meaning that although these plants are green and can photosynthesize, they also have the ability to sequester nutrients from other organisms, in this case, from perennial grasses.

lutescens), as well as a separate closely related species that also has yellow bracts ( Castilleja sessiliflora). Also, there is a form of this species that has yellow bracts ( Castilleja coccinea f. poison used to against their enemies, as this species is known to have toxic properties. The actual flower petals are rather inconspicuous, although the tip of the sepals are tinged with red as well. A field of Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea) flower head. The showy red structures are technically bracts, a type of modified leaf, and not petals. The genus name “ Castilleja” is named after Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo, and “ coccinea” means “red,” referring to the red bracts that surround the flowers. This plant is also called painted cup for the showy cup-like bracts. This species was formerly placed in the Figwort family (Scrophullariaceae), which was a hodgepodge of genera that didn’t fit well in other families. Indian paintbrush is an attractive member of the parasitic Broomrape family (Orobancaceae).