You were challenged to identify national park Mystery Plant #8 using just the information provided by the rhymes below.
The ferrule is dented, the handle is cracked.
The hogs hair looks like it's totally whacked.
This one is junk, there is no doubt.
The time has come to throw it out.
and
The sunset paints yon western sky
Like the subconjunctival hemorrhage in my eye.
and
If you chew tobacco, you know this brand.
It's a leading seller throughout the land.
They proudly proclaim it's "America's Best Chew."
And many insist that it spits furthest too.
The mystery plant is the Indian paintbrush (Castilleja). Known in some locales as prairie fire, but much more commonly known as Indian paintbrush, Castilleja is a genus of around 200 species of flowering plants -- some perennial, some annual -- found in parts of Alaska, western areas of the United States and Canada, and many places in Mexico and Central America south to the Andes.
You've seen this plant, and perhaps its beautiful red or orange-red flowers (see accompanying photo), if you've hiked in places like Alaska's Denali National Park & Preserve, Montana's Glacier National Park, or Arizona's Saguaro National Park.
The first rhyme describes a paintbrush. This particular one is a "china bristle" brush with natural bristles made of hogs hair, a traditional component of higher-quality paintbrushes used to apply varnish and oil-based house paint. Hogs hair bristles, which come from the boar's neck, are prized because the tips are naturally split (flagged) and hold paint well. A metal ferrule attaches the bristles to the handle. The fact that this paintbrush is in lousy shape is inconsequential.
The second rhyme evokes the color red, which is the prevailing color of Indian paintbrush blossoms, the classic sunset color, and the color of your eye if you have a subconjunctival hemorrhage. (Widely known as "red eye", a subconjunctival hemorrhage is a red area that appears on the white of your eye when a small blood vessel near the surface of the eye breaks open and bleeds.)
The third rhyme identifies Red Man chewing tobacco, which is advertised as "America's Best Chew." The term "red man" was once commonly used to denote Indian.
An Indian paintbrush in bloom delights the eye. Traveler editor Kurt Repanshek and I saw plenty of it in flower while we were hiking in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks a few weeks ago.
Comments
I enjoyed reading the rhymes and solutions to them. The Indian paintbrush reminds me of my time living in Colorado and many days hiking in the Arapaho National Forest as well as Rocky Mountain National Park. I always enjoyed taking a break to appreciate the beauty of the Indian paintbrush as well as Columbines and other native flowers. Thank you for conjuring up some great memories!
The color in the Indian Paintbrush is actually the bract: the flower is a wee little yellow thing in the center. I love to challenge my friends by asking them what color they think the flower is, and then informing them that they are describing the bract instead.
I know -- picky, picky, picky.
To be perfectly honest, Slim, "picky" was not the first term that came to mind. :0)
Don't feel bad Slim...I do the same thing!
Picky? Nahhhh. I'd say you learn something every day!
Slim must be a lot of fun at Christmas when the Poinsettias hit the shelves. ;-)
Slim and RangerLady (and probably Kirby) _could_ have pointed out that all species of Castilleja are parasitic on other plants, technically root hemiparasites. While they have chlorophyll and use photosynthesis (and thus are hemiparasitic and not holoparasitic), they still obtain much of their C and energy from the host plant, as well as nitrogen and alkaloids and other defensive chemicals (I was going to embed a couple of urls but I don't know how in the new system). Note that you don't see obvious host plants in Bob's photo: Castilleja are parasitic on shrubs, herbs, and grasses, and desert plants have wide spread shallow root systems.