Soft-hairy perennial; stems usually clustered, simple, 1-4 dm, very leafy; principal cauline lvs 3-5 cm, cleft to below the middle into 3 lance-linear divergent lobes, the middle lobe sometimes again cleft; spikes dense, 3-5 cm; bracts like the lvs but somewhat smaller, green or sometimes pink-tipped; cal 25-40 mm, cleft to about the middle, each half also cleft into 2 linear-attenuate segments 8-14 mm; cor curved, exserted from the bracts, purplish to yellow or white, 35-55 mm, the galea 9-12 mm, the lobes of the lower lip 5-6 mm; 2n=24. Dry prairies and plains; Wis. and n. Ill. to Sask., s. to Mo., Tex., and Ariz. May-July.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1969
Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Subshrub General: Perennial with many densely villous or tomentose stems, branched, to about 40 cm tall. Leaves: Linear to linear-lanceolate, villous to hirsute, 2-5 cm long, entire except upper ones usually with a pair of linear lobes. Flowers: Densely villous spike, floral bracts shorter than flowers, glandular-pubescent, mostly green with purplish veins, dingy yellow at apex, 3-5 lobed; calyx more deeply cleft on lower side than on upper side, yellowish or tinged with pink, glandular-pubescent toward apex, otherwise villous; corolla 40-50 mm long, strongly exserted, the upper hood less than half as long as corolla tube, yellowish or tinged rose-pink at margins, glabrous or glandular, lower lip sac-shaped, red at apex, lobes linear 5-8 mm long). Fruits: Loculicidal capsule with numerous seeds. Ecology: Found on sandy slopes, often among pi-on-juniper woodlands; 4,500-7,000 ft (1372-2134 m); flowers April-June. Distribution: From n MEX north to AZ, east TX and north to MTthrough MN to CAN. Notes: This is a plains species that ranges up into Canada. It is distinctive in that its color ranges from pale purple-pink to yellowish, with a corolla that far surpasses the calyx. Ethnobotany: Used as a hair oil and the nectar was sucked in spring. Etymology: Castilleja is for the Spanish botanist Domingo Castillejo (1744-1793), while sessiliflora means having sessile flowers. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2015