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Castilleja arvensis; photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2021-01-08

Castilleja arvensis Schltdl. & Cham.

Field Indian paintbrush; Field Paintbrush; Indian paintbrush

Orobanchaceae · Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +24

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Castilleja arvensis Schltdl. & Cham.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Cham. & Schltdl.

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Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Brynn Fricke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Brynn Fricke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Brynn Fricke, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY)Castilleja arvensis, photograph (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) 68 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
4.4°C
Record low 1.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
23°C
Mar, Apr and May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,500mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
30–40DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,021 mm of 1,370 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 3.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,370 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,021 mm of it May to October. Wettest month July at 207 mm, driest month February at 45 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 819 mm to 3,087 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,500 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,370 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 4.4 °C, the absolute minimum 1.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 18.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 4.3 °C to 16.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 23.1 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 4.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +310 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Castilleja arvensis through the yearWarmest months March, April and May, mean daily high 23 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 9.7 °C; 1,370 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°18.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER1.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–40RH 60–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 926 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C20 / 16–2621 / 16–2723 / 17–2823 / 17–2923 / 16–2921 / 15–2821 / 15–2621 / 16–2621 / 16–2520 / 16–2520 / 16–2520 / 16–25
Night °C10 / 4–1710 / 5–1711 / 6–1712 / 7–1712 / 8–1812 / 8–1912 / 7–1812 / 7–1812 / 8–1812 / 7–1711 / 6–1710 / 5–17
Rain mm46 / 11–19745 / 10–20650 / 7–26273 / 10–293111 / 32–328187 / 59–371207 / 42–363196 / 41–360188 / 67–409132 / 56–35678 / 12–27657 / 7–222
DLI32 / 25–3635 / 28–3938 / 29–4540 / 25–4838 / 23–4633 / 23–4034 / 25–3934 / 27–3932 / 27–3632 / 27–3631 / 25–3630 / 24–34
RH %62 / 51–7161 / 49–7160 / 46–7161 / 46–7163 / 51–7165 / 59–7165 / 60–7165 / 59–7167 / 60–7265 / 59–7263 / 55–7262 / 52–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 926 grid cells holding the 1312 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1778:2044 (1.075, -77.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 1.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 4.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 18.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 926 distinct grid cells holding 1312 of the 1312 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1778:2044 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +310 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2863 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay, Uruguay · introduced: Hawaii · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker19.296, -99.196 · in the densest population, 678 records (41% of those in range)
Kew's description“hemiparasitic annual” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1674 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1312 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 886 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 4 km away. 87 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 362 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1674 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Castilleja arvensis, photograph 1did not loadCastilleja arvensis, photograph 2did not loadCastilleja arvensis, photograph 3did not loadCastilleja arvensis, photograph 4did not loadCastilleja arvensis, photograph 5did not loadCastilleja arvensis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Brynn Fricke, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Robin White, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Asplenium praemorsum Asplenium praemorsum Egyptian Spleenwort Photo: CC BY, Rafaella Cevallos LarreaRhynchostele bictoniensis Rhynchostele bictoniensis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialRubus adenotrichos Rubus adenotrichos Tropical Highland Blackberry Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialFuchsia paniculata Fuchsia paniculata Shrubby fuchsia Photo: CC BY, harrierEpidendrum cnemidophorum Epidendrum cnemidophorum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez MarcialTillandsia eizii Tillandsia eizii Bromeliaceae Photo: CC BY, Neptalí Ramírez Marcial

Other Castilleja 26 in the reference

Castilleja affinis Castilleja affinis Coast Indian paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Mary JantschCastilleja applegatei Castilleja applegatei Wavy-leaf paintbrush Photo: CC0, author not statedCastilleja attenuata Castilleja attenuata Valley tassels Photo: CC0, author not statedCastilleja chromosa Castilleja chromosa Desert Indian Paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Parker James LloydCastilleja coccinea Castilleja coccinea Eastern paintbrush Photo: CC0, author not statedCastilleja densiflora Castilleja densiflora Dense-flower Indian paintbrush Photo: CC0, author not statedCastilleja exserta Castilleja exserta Purple owl-clover Photo: CC0, author not statedCastilleja foliolosa Castilleja foliolosa Woolly Indian paintbrush Photo: CC BY, LJ Moore-McClellandCastilleja hispida Castilleja hispida Bristly paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadCastilleja hololeuca Castilleja hololeuca Island paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Devon BradleyCastilleja indivisa Castilleja indivisa Texas paintbrush Photo: CC BY, Linda Jo ConnCastilleja integra Castilleja integra Wholeleaf Indian paintbrush Photo: CC0, author not stated all 27 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Bartsia trinervis; Castilleja agrestis; Castilleja communis; Castilleja communis f. johnstoniae; Castilleja haitiensis and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orobanchaceae
Described by
Schltdl. & Cham.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +23
Wild records
1674 in range · 886 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-21
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-21GBIF's key 3170604 is Castilleja arvensis Cham. & Schltdl.; the page links Kew's Castilleja arvensis Schltdl. & Cham., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-21
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-21names fetched 2026-10-21
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 29 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (22 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 5 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-21
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-21NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +310 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-21
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-21
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-21
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 114 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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