What is Indian Paintbrush?

Answer 1

The Indian paintbrush does exist. It is Wyoming's state flower. It was adopted on January 31, 1917. It is a wild flower with red, orange. scarlett or yellow colour which is due to the colourful bracts of this flower.

Answer 2

From the following information, I gathered that an Indian Paintbrush's scientific name is Castilleja and it is in the Scrophulariaceae Family along with snapdragons and foxglove. There are around 200 species of the Indian Paintbrush, the most common is Castilleja coccinea or Scarlet Indian Paintbrush. This plant thrives on roots of other plants and is not recommended for a garden because it is parasitic. Other common names are Painted Lady or Painted Cup. All of the listed websites display pictures of what the plants look like.

Using Google's search engine (http:/www.google.com I searched for , and the first site is from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Listed next to the picture, is "classification" which has information on the categories the plant falls under. There are also maps of where different species of Indian Paintbrush grow:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CASTI2

Going back to the Google search, the second site is from the University of Arkansas' Division of Agriculture. This page discusses how the plant grows, what parts of the United States it grows, and the environments best suited for its growth.

http:/www.arhomeandgarden.org/plantoftheweek/articles/Indian_Paintbrush.htm

The seventh site down in my Google search results was from the Britannica Online Encyclopedia. This site confirmed information about the other two sources and also offered some alternate names

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285898/Indian-paint-brush

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The term "Indian Paintbrush" generically refers to the genus Castilleja. For instance, the Northwestern Indian Paintbrush is Castilleja angustifolia.