Mentzelia albescens
Mentzelia pectinata
wavy-leaf blazingstar
San Joaquin blazing star
solitary, erect, straight;
branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy.
blade 31–92(–157) × 10.5–27.6(–41) mm, widest intersinus distance 5.2–23.3(–29) mm;
proximal lanceolate or elliptic, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 8–22, slightly antrorse, 1.8–6 mm;
distal lanceolate, base clasping, margins usually serrate to pinnate, occasionally entire, teeth or lobes (0–)10–20, slightly antrorse, 1.4–7.6 mm;
abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes.
persisting;
petiole present or absent;
blade lanceolate to linear, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.
petiole absent;
blade ovate to linear, to 12 cm, margins deeply lobed to dentate.
margins entire.
green, ovate to lanceolate, 6.6–12.8 × 1.9–6.8 mm, width 1/5–2/3 length, not concealing capsule, margins 3–7-lobed.
petals golden yellow, 5.7–9.2 × 1.3–3 mm, apex usually acute, occasionally rounded, glabrous abaxially;
stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 4.7–8.4 × 1–2.4 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers;
anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;
styles 3.5–5.4 mm.
sepals 3–13 mm;
petals red to orange proximally, orange to yellow distally, 8–22 mm, apex mucronate, rounded, or retuse;
stamens 20+, 4–11 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed;
styles 5–13 mm.
cylindric, 13.6–23.5 × 5.1–7.8 mm, base tapering, not or slightly longitudinally ridged.
clavate, 12–35 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 90° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.
coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 4–17 per cell.
20–40, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled or not, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface tuberculate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent;
seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges more than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity.
= 22.
= 18.
Mentzelia albescens
Mentzelia pectinata
Phylogenetic analyses (J. J. Schenk and L. Hufford 2011) recovered representative populations of Mentzelia albescens from Texas and South America in a monophyletic group. Phylogenetic placement of these populations among lineages in sect. Bartonia, as well as a lack of morphological differentiation among North American and South American populations, suggests a recent dispersal to South America. In the flora area, this species is native to central and western Texas, and introduced in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Mentzelia pectinata occurs in Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Tulare counties, around the southern rim of the San Joaquin Valley, extending into the Inner Coast Ranges and the southern foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Petal color varies from orange to yellow, and fully fertile artificial hybrids have been obtained between populations representing the extreme phenotypes (J. E. Zavortink 1966). Phylogenetic studies suggest that M. pectinata and M. congesta have hybridized to form several allopolyploid species (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b) despite their current allopatric distributions.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
KS Wildflowers
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
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