Christ’s Indian Paintbrush
A yellow paintbrush known from a single Idaho summit turns Mount Harrison’s brief alpine summer into one of the state’s most geographically precise wildflower encounters.
Artwork inspired by Chantay Mejia
The colorful parts are mostly bracts surrounding smaller flowers. Christ’s Indian Paintbrush can vary from yellow to orange-tinged, and identification depends on summit habitat and technical characters rather than color alone. Like other paintbrushes, it is partly parasitic on neighboring plants through root connections.
A paved road makes Mount Harrison accessible enough that foot traffic becomes a direct threat. Stay on designated paths and durable surfaces, never pick a flower, and keep vehicles out of vegetation. Fire can be both natural process and existential risk when an entire species occupies one mountain.
- Range
- Mount Harrison only
- Color
- Usually yellow to yellow-green
- Status
- Federally threatened
Quick guide
- First field mark
- A compact high-elevation paintbrush with bright yellow to yellow-green showy bracts, sometimes edged red or orange
- Then confirm
- Open subalpine and alpine plant communities near the summit of Mount Harrison in Idaho’s Albion Mountains
Field evidence for Christ’s Indian Paintbrush
- Establish structure
- Treat “A compact high-elevation paintbrush with bright yellow to yellow-green showy bracts, sometimes edged red or orange” as a field hypothesis.
- Challenge the first view
- After the overall form, confirm Open subalpine and alpine plant communities near the summit of Mount Harrison in Idaho’s Albion Mountains.
- Check when and where
- Place Christ’s Indian Paintbrush within “Open subalpine and alpine plant communities near the summit of Mount Harrison in Idaho’s Albion Mountains”.
- Keep behavior natural
- Document Christ’s Indian Paintbrush from durable ground, including its neighbors, without picking, bending, or clearing vegetation.
Good to know
The plant’s extreme range restriction makes ordinary wildflower etiquette insufficient. One shortcut through a patch can damage a meaningful part of the population; follow current Forest Service closures and photograph from the trail edge.
Notice these
- A compact high-elevation paintbrush with bright yellow to yellow-green showy bracts, sometimes edged red or orange
- Open subalpine and alpine plant communities near the summit of Mount Harrison in Idaho’s Albion Mountains
- Emerges after snowmelt and flowers during the short alpine summer before returning to dormancy.