Paintbrushes in Peril: Rare Endangered Range-Limited Castilleja of North America by Mark Egger

Of the approximately 200 species of the genus Castilleja many are common widespread and often conspicuous components of our native flora. However there are also many species in the genus that are rare and declining due to a variety of causes as well as many others that are extremely range-limited due to their stringent habitat requirements. Many of these species are seriously threatened with extinction from a variety of mostly human-caused factors including global warming and resultant climate changes. Fortunately there are also some remarkable success stories including the strong recovery of several species that were nearly extinct but recovered once the sources of their decline were eliminated. The program will include photos from Marks 37 years of field work studying paintbrushes and their relatives. Mark Egger is a retired science educator a research associate at the WTU Herbarium in Seattle Washington Territory University and a member of CNPS WNPS Washington Native Plant Society and NPSO Native Plant Society of Oregon. He has published numerous papers and flora treatments for the genus Castilleja including a number of new species and varieties and he is the lead author for Castilleja in the recently-published Vol. 17 of the Flora of North America. He also maintains a Flickr site with over 56000 images of his botanical photos collected from travels over the last 37 years centered around Castilleja and related genera. Subscribe to the CNPS SCV YouTube channel: Like us on facebook: Follow us on instagram: ,

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