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small flower blazing star, small-flower evening star, white stem blazing star, white-stem evening star, white-stem stick-leaf

Goodrich's blazingstar

Habit Plants wandlike or candelabra-form, (2–)10–40(–50) cm. Plants perennial, bushlike, with subterranean caudices or rhizomes.
Stems

multiple, erect or decumbent, zigzag or straight;

branches along entire stem, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy.

Leaves

blade 23–35.3 × 6.5–13(–16) mm, widest intersinus distance 3.7–11.3 mm;

proximal oblanceolate, margins dentate, teeth 4–10, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.5–1.8 mm;

distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins dentate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 4–8, perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.3–3.6 mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes.

Basal leaves

persisting;

petiole present or absent;

blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.

Cauline leaves

petiole absent;

blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or entire.

Bracts

green, ovate to linear, 3.7–8.6 × 0.8–3.9 mm, width 1/6–2/3 length, not concealing capsule, margins 3-lobed or entire, lateral lobes never prominent.

margins entire.

Flowers

sepals 1–5 mm;

petals orange proximally, yellow distally, 3–7(–8) mm, apex usually acute, rarely retuse;

stamens 20+, 3–5 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed;

styles 2–5 mm.

petals golden yellow, 16.1–18.5 × 6.7–9.2 mm, apex rounded, glabrous abaxially;

stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 7.8–9.3 × 2.3–3.3 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 6.3–8.6 mm.

Capsules

clavate, 8–28(–35) × 1.5–3.5 mm, longest capsules usually 15+ mm, axillary curved to 180° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.

cup-shaped, 8–12 × 6–7.2 mm, base rounded, not longitudinally ridged.

Seeds

10–30, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, dark brown or tan, moderately to densely dark-mottled, 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.

coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 11–15 per cell.

2n

= 54, 72.

Mentzelia albicaulis

Mentzelia goodrichii

Phenology Flowering Mar–Aug. Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Sand dunes, gravel fans, washes, desert scrub, sagebrush or antelope bitterbrush scrub, open ponderosa pine woodlands, pinyon/juniper woodlands. Steep slopes composed of Green River Formation shale.
Elevation 0–2300 m. (0–7500 ft.) 1900–2700 m. (6200–8900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NE; NM; NV; OR; SD; TX; UT; WA; WY; BC; SK; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Mentzelia albicaulis is the most widespread species in sect. Trachyphytum and exhibits extensive morphological variation. Most populations of M. albicaulis are octoploid; however, hexaploids from southern California that have been called M. mojavensis and occasionally M. californica are also treated here as M. albicaulis. Two tetraploids in sect. Trachyphytum, M. montana and M. obscura, also have been treated previously as M. albicaulis (N. H. Holmgren et al. 2005). Both exhibit morphological forms and distributions overlapping with M. albicaulis. However, in most cases these species can be distinguished without chromosome counts, and their distinctiveness has been supported by phylogenetic analyses (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Mentzelia goodrichii is known only from Duchesne County.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 534. FNA vol. 12, p. 513.
Parent taxa Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia
Sibling taxa
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. goodrichii, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. humilis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. obscura, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. humilis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. obscura, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
Synonyms Bartonia albicaulis, M. mojavensis
Name authority (Douglas) Douglas ex Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 534. (1840) K. H. Thorne & S. L. Welsh: Rhodora 95: 407, fig. 14. (1993)
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