Here in Oklahoma, we usually call it Indian Paintbrush. Castilleja indivisa is a hemiparasitic (meaning a plant which obtains or may obtain part of its food by parasitism) annual wildflower native to Texas and Oklahoma. The bright red leaf-like bracts that surround the white to greenish flowers make the plant look like a ragged brush that has been dipped in red paint. An important early spring nectar source for butterflies and hummingbirds. Perhaps my favorite wildflower.
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Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300mm IS USM zoom, f/5.6, 1/2000 sec., ISO 800, underexposed 1 full step, Hand Held. Processed in ACR and PSE for exposure and sharpness. Topaz De-noise lightly applied.
Terry, Paintbrush are a favorite western flower of mine also. This shows off the colorful bracts well. Unless there was a problem, either moving your camera a bit to the left or rotating the view a bit left, so that the two bracts were more balanced in the frame would look good.
Thanks, Mark. I agree the crop is a bit ungainly. I was trying to isolate these two specimens from a large stand of these flowers growing on a roadside. I even removed part of a bloom in the upper left corner that was left after cropping. I’ll go back and see if I can manipulate it better.
Beautiful colors and detail you’ve gotten in this paint brush flower, Terry. I agree with @Mark_Seaver about the composition. I keep trying to get some to grow here and not having much success. Nicely seen and captured.
Thanks, Linda. I, too have tried to grow it without much success. But it’s growing profusely along the roadside between Mannford and Stillwater, Oklahoma along Highway 51 - a distance of some 40 miles!
