Golden Paintbrush
Golden Paintbrush is an upright hairy perennial with brilliant golden-yellow bracts and narrow lower leaves and is most meaningfully sought in Puget Trough glacial outwash and island prairies, plus restored Willamette Valley sites.
Artwork inspired by Z. Vanessa Helder
Golden Paintbrush is identified by the combination of an upright hairy stem, narrow lower leaves, and dense golden-yellow floral bracts—not by yellow color alone. The full plant and its open prairie setting should be visible in a useful record.
Federal delisting reflects coordinated recovery, but surviving and restored populations still depend on mowing, burning, invasive-species control, and careful access. Puget prairies remain the species’ strongest geographic anchor, with additional restored sites in the Willamette Valley.
- Primary range
- Washington
- Habitat
- Puget Trough glacial outwash and island prairies, plus restored Willamette Valley
- Status
- Recovered and federally delisted, but still dependent on active prairie stewardship
Quick guide
- Identify by
- Hairy upright stems, narrow lower leaves, and dense golden bracts
- Confirm with
- Open Puget prairie during the May–June flowering window
Four checks for Golden Paintbrush
- Establish the whole plant
- Look for a hairy upright stem and narrow lower leaves before using the dense golden bracts as evidence for Golden Paintbrush.
- Inspect the flower spike
- Compare several bracts along the spike and find the small greenish flowers nested among them; one sunlit patch of yellow is not enough.
- Place the prairie
- Use Puget Trough glacial-outwash or island prairie and the May–June flowering window as supporting evidence, while recognizing restored Willamette Valley populations.
- Protect a managed recovery site
- Stay on the signed prairie route, photograph the plant and its habitat with zoom, and share exact colony coordinates only with conservation staff.
Good to know
A federally recovered species can still be locally fragile. Do not step into a colony, pick a flower spike, or assume an accessible restoration site is open without the land manager’s permission.
Notice these
- An upright hairy perennial with brilliant golden-yellow bracts and narrow lower leaves
- Puget Trough glacial outwash and island prairies, plus restored Willamette Valley sites
- May–June in open prairie