Description: Bright red-orange bracts that resemble paintbrushes.
Growth Habit: Upright, clump-forming perennial. 2ft height
Sun/Shade: Full sun.
Water Needs: Low to moderate; prefers well-drained soil.
Soil Preferences: Well-drained, sandy or loamy soil.
Benefits: Attracts hummingbirds and adds vibrant color to meadows. Semi-parasitic, often growing with grasses.
 
From Prairie Moon Nursery:
Indian Paintbrush is a sought-after prairie beauty that prefers bright sites with medium-dry to medium-wet soils. An annual or biennial, its vivid scarlet bracts nearly hide small, greenish flowers and appear to have been dipped in paint.  May and June are the typical bloom time, but because of its annual or biennial nature, you can see flowers blooming as late as October.
 
A hemiparasitic plant is one that its roots seek out those of host plants, usually grasses, and tap into them for nutrition (see Germination Code K).  Good host options for many hemiparasitic species include low-growing grasses and sedges like Blue Grama, Juncus species, Buffalo Grass, Pennsylvania Sedge, Sweet Grass, and June Grass.