Cream sacs facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cream sacs |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Castilleja
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| Species: |
rubicundula
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| Synonyms | |
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Orthocarpus rubicundula |
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Castilleja rubicundula is a type of wild plant known as Indian paintbrush. People also call it cream sacs because of how its flowers look.
Where Does It Grow?
This beautiful wildflower grows every year. You can find it in northern California and southwestern Oregon. It likes to live in open areas like grasslands, both near the coast and further inland.
What Does It Look Like?
The Castilleja rubicundula plant can grow to be about half a meter tall. Its stems are a bit hairy, and it has long, thin leaves.
The plant grows clusters of flowers at the very top of its stem. Sometimes, it also grows more flower clusters on side branches. The flowers can be white, pink, yellow, or even two colors at once! They often look like they have three puffy pouches, which makes them seem inflated. Each pouch is about one centimeter wide and half a centimeter deep. Every flower also has a small "beak" that sticks out about half a centimeter above the pouches.
After the flowers bloom, the plant produces small fruits called capsules. Inside these capsules are tiny seeds, less than a millimeter long. If you look at them very closely with a magnifying glass, you can see that their outer layer has a cool honeycomb pattern.
Different Types of Cream Sacs
Just like there can be different types of apples, there are also slightly different types of Castilleja rubicundula. These are called subspecies and varieties. Some of them include:
- Castilleja rubicundula ssp. lithospermoides
- Castilleja rubicundula ssp. rubicundula — This type is special because it grows only in the Sacramento Valley in California. When a plant or animal is found only in one specific place, it's called endemic.
- Castilleja rubicundula var. rubicundula
