Indian warrior is a stout, erect, several-stemmed, pubescent perennial with flowers in a dense spike-like raceme subtended by red, leafy bracts, the calyces deep-red and hispid, the corollas deep-red to purple and glabrous to minutely hairy, the galea or upper lip to four times as long as the lower.  The oblong to lanceolate leaves are mostly basal with some alternate on the stem, twice-pinnatifid into many narrow dentate or laciniate lobes.  Indian warrior is partially parasitic, blooms from January to June, and occupies dry slopes below about 6000' in isolated colonies often in the shade of other shrubs such as chamise.  It may be found from San Diego Co. north in chaparral, foothill woodland and yellow pine forest, and will be particularly abundant in wet years.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Pedicularis 2) densiflora.
Pronunciation: ped-IK-yoo-lare-is den-si-FLOR-a.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.