Mentzelia aspera |
Mentzelia pectinata |
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dal-pega, rough stickleaf, tropical blazingstar, tropical stickleaf |
San Joaquin blazing star |
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Habit | Plants annual, without caudices or tubers. | Plants candelabra-form, (8–)20–50(–60) cm. |
Stems | erect to decumbent, to 30 cm. |
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Leaves | petiole 10–65 mm; blade hastate to ovate, usually basally lobed, sometimes unlobed, to 18 × 10 cm, base cuneate to truncate, margins serrate to crenate, apex acute. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade lanceolate to linear, margins deeply to shallowly lobed. |
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Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate to linear, to 12 cm, margins deeply lobed to dentate. |
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Bracts | 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. |
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Pedicels | (fruiting) 1–3 × 2 mm (often appearing absent because thick and continuous with capsule). |
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Flowers | petals orange or yellow, 5–15 × 3–7 mm, apex cuspidate, hairy abaxially at apex; stamens 20–30, 5 mm, filaments heteromorphic, 5 outermost narrowly spatulate, inner filiform; style 5 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. |
Capsules | subcylindric to clavate, 9–30 × 3–3.5 mm, base tapering gradually, capsule and pedicel not well-differentiated. |
clavate, 12–35 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 90° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
Seeds | 5–9 per capsule, pyriform to oblong, without transverse folds. |
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. |
2n | = 20. |
= 18. |
Mentzelia aspera |
Mentzelia pectinata |
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Phenology | Flowering Aug–Oct. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Arroyo and canyon bottoms, grasslands, desert scrub, riparian cottonwood and willow vegetation. | Slopes of sandy or gray-white silty soils, grasslands, oak savannas, uncommonly juniper woodlands. |
Elevation | 100–2000 m. (300–6600 ft.) | 200–1400 m. (700–4600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Atlantic Islands (Cape Verde Islands)]
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CA
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Discussion | Mentzelia aspera is uncommon in southern Arizona. It is the most widespread species of the genus and is regarded as weedy by some authors (H. J. Thompson and A. M. Powell 1981). (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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 528. | FNA vol. 12, p. 541. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Mentzelia | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 516. (1753) | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 3: 40, fig. 9. (1863) |
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