PlantFiles: Scarlet Indian Paintbrush
Castilleja coccinea

I'm planting a butterfly meadow around my pond and want as many native plants as I can find to sow. The Scarlet Indian Paintbrush is one of my favorites. In researching the germination techiques, I googled several sites to learn about parasitic plants. One of the sites I'm bookmarking is an excerpt from the North American Plant Society.

My sowing of this plant is a two-fold experiment. One method is to wintersow Castilleja coccinea seed mixed with oxeye daisy in an orange juice carboard container that will be planted in the ground as a whole unit, container and all. The other method is to baggie some in my refriderator in moist sand for two months(moist cold stratification). Since the seedlings may need a host of vascular, herbaceous and woody plants, I plan to sow these near Little Blue Stem grass as well.

Few, if any, of the prairie plants put on as much show as Indian paintbrush when covering a prairie in early spring. Truly a sight to behold. Grows well in Kansas and Oklahoma, popping up in fields along roadways. As with most native plants, it's not easy to transplant.

Have spotted Indian Paintbrush on numerous sunny hills in Colorado.