It is better suited to cultivation than most other species in the paintbrush genus (Castilleja) and is therefore used in xeriscape gardens and naturalistic meadows, even outside its native range.

[3][4] All above ground parts of the plants, the leaves, bracts, stems, and flowers, are covered in light coating of soft down, called tomentum by botanists.

[5][3] The herbaceous stems regrow each season from a hard, woody structure called a caudex that is atop a substantial taproot or stout branched roots.

[3][4] Castilleja integra has leaves that may range in color from purplish to fully green, but will usually be pale or dusty looking because of the fine, unbranched hairs on the surface.

The beak, the pointed end of the flower petals, is green in color on the upper surface and either only slightly shorter than the sepals to projecting well beyond them.

[10] In other cases, like that of Oxytropis sericea, C. integra will parasitize the host plant, but does not transfer the alkaloid swainsonine to itself.

[10] Castilleja integra was first scientifically observed in the Organ Mountains of Southern New Mexico near El Paso, Texas, by Charles Wright.

[3] Though its naming and classification have never been challenged, a number species or subspecies have previously been described that are now either regarded as illegitimate (nomen illegitimum) or as synonyms of Castilleja integra.

gloriosa as a legitimate subspecies, while POWO, WFO, and the Flora of North America regard it as part of the normal variation of the species.

[20] The Zuni people call Castilleja integra "Tsu'yaa'wa tsi'sinakĭa" in their own language, a compound word which means "hummingbird all sucking-food".

[21] The natural range of Castilleja integra can be broadly defined as northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

[22] In the United States its range includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, but it not found in California or Nevada.

[14] It also grows in much of northern Mexico including the states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Durango.

They similarly found it to be apparently secure (S4) at the state level in Arizona, but they did not evaluate the rest of its range.

[1] The variable checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas chalcedona) feeds upon various species in both the Orobanchaceae and Scrophulariaceae families as a caterpillar, including Castilleja integra.

[27] Pollen is deposited by the plants on the bill and crown of the hummingbirds, who are attracted by the nectar reward concealed in the long tube of the flower.

[27] Castailleja integra is considered to be a hemi-parasite, because a host plant is not required for seedlings to sprout and they can photosynthesize to produce at least some of their own energy.

[28] It is partially dependent on a host plant for healthy growth and in potted tests has been found to not survive longer than three months without one.

When planted with Antennaria media the rate was 3% and with Zinnia grandiflora and Penstemon crandallii it had 17% survival at 14 months.

[28] Likewise, Lupinus argentus does not support Castailleja integra very readily, with only one out of forty pairings blooming in a one year test in 2004.

The best survival rates for orange paintbrush when planted in pots are with fringed sagebrush, lemon sagewort, rubber rabbitbrush, pine-leaved penstemon, yellow sundrops, Blue Mountain buckwheat, or antelope sage.