Indian Paintbrush

Description:

Wichita Forest Park is leased from the U.S. Army corps of Engineers, and is located on the south side of Highland Village Road. This 24 acre natural resource area park serves as a passive, wildlife area. It remains in a native state, and it is the habitat for various species of flora and fauna. There are natural surface trails throughout this site that allow citizens the ability to access and enjoy the benefits of this nature preserve.

Habitat:

One of the popular paintbrushes, this showy annual or biennial grows 6-16 in. high. Its several unbranched stems form clumps topped by bright-red, paintbrush-like spikes. The flowers are actually inconspicuous and greenish, but are subtended by showy, red-tipped bracts. They sometimes produce a light yellow or pure white variation mixed in with the reds. Together, the flowers and bracts form 3-8 in. spikes. The roots of this plant will grow until they touch the roots of other plants, frequently grasses, penetrating these host roots to obtain a portion of their nutrients. Transplanting paintbrush may kill it. Indian paintbrush has a reputation for being unpredictable. In some years, when bluebonnets (which flower at approximately the same time as Indian paintbrush) are especially colorful, paintbrush will have only an average flowering year. Other years, paintbrush is spectacular.