Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Castilleja rubicundula is a species of Indian paintbrush known by the common name cream sacs. This wildflower is native to northern California and southern Oregon, where it lives on coastal and inland grasslands. It is a hairy, hairy annual growing to about half a meter in height, the stem leafy with lance-shaped foliage. It produces a terminal flower cluster and sometimes branches off several more flower clusters. The white, pink, yellow, or bicolored flowers are divided into usually three pouches, making them look inflated. Each pouch is about a centimeter wide and half a centimeter deep. Each flower has a beak extending about half a centimeter above the pouches. The fruit is a capsule containing tiny seeds less than a millimeter long. Under magnification the seed's honeycomb-patterned coat is visible.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

2 ft Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow, Cream, Pink, White

Sun

Full Sun

Site type

Open grassy places

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 14 likely

Confirmed Likely

Adela flammeusella

Geranium Plume Moth

Amblyptilia pica

Orange Tortrix Moth

Argyrotaenia franciscana

Alfalfa Looper Moth

Autographa californica