Castilleja chromosa

Castilleja chromosa, the desert paintbrush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae found in the western United States. They are distributed in dry scrub, steppe, and desert. They have colorful inflorescences which range from yellow to red in hue. This color is given not by the flowers, which are small, but by the colorful bracts. The plants grow up to nearly half a meter (~1.5 ft) tall and are slightly bristly and greyish-green. Their stems do not branch, and their leaves are small and lance-shaped. Partial parasites, they steal some of their nutrients from neighboring plants.