Along with the zillions of lupines, asters, and what not, there were hordes of paintbrush flowers on the trail from Corral Pass to Noble Knob.

I had always called all the varieties "Indian Paintbrush", but my main field guide just calls them Paintbrushes. This one is a Common Red Paintbrush, which is the most common paintbrush in the Pacific Northwest. According to my book, the genus Castilleja is fairly complex and variable, as is the species C. miniata. Apparently the species C. miniata includes C. hyetophila and C. chrymactis, which occur at lower elevations near the coast. How a species can include two other species I'm not sure.

There are seashore paintbrushes and alpine paintbrushes, cliff paintbrushes, and quite a few other varieties.

The "brush" part of the flower is apparently not the flower itself, but leafy bracts, while the flowers are greenish and fairly well hidden inside. The plants of the paintbrush genus Castilleja are "partially parasitic on the roots of other plants", making them very hard to transplant.