Mentzelia decapetala |
Mentzelia nitens |
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10-petal western star, evening starflower, gumbo-lily, tenpetal blazingstar |
shining blazing star, Venus blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants biennial or perennial, bushlike, perennials with ground-level caudices. | Plants candelabra-form, 5–20(–35) cm. |
Stems | solitary, erect, straight; branches distal or along entire stem, proximal or distal longest, antrorse, straight to upcurved; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 72–295 × 14–45 mm, widest intersinus distance 10.1–23.3 mm; proximal oblanceolate or elliptic, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 16–26, slightly antrorse, 1–16.5 mm; distal elliptic to lanceolate, base clasping or not, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 9–20, slightly antrorse, 5.3–13.7 mm; surfaces with needlelike trichomes. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade lanceolate to linear, margins usually deeply to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. |
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Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or entire. |
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Bracts | margins pinnate. |
green, lanceolate, 4.5–8.3 × 1.2–3.6 mm, width 1/5–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
Flowers | petals white, 47–75 × 13–22.7 mm, apex acute to attenuate, glabrous abaxially; stamens white to yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments spatulate, strongly clawed, 48–75 × 12–23 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 36–53 mm. |
sepals 3–8 mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, (7–)8–18 mm, apex rounded or acute apex; stamens 20+, 3–8 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 4–8 mm. |
Capsules | cylindric, 30–43 × 12–17 mm, base tapering, not longitudinally ridged. |
clavate, 13–26 × 2–3.5 mm, axillary curved to 180° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
Seeds | 2.3–4 mm; coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 4–10 per cell. |
15–40, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, usually dark-mottled, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface colliculate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum usually present; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges less than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. |
2n | = 22. |
= 18. |
Mentzelia decapetala |
Mentzelia nitens |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug(–Oct). | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Rock outcrops, slopes, dry short-grass prairies, riverbanks, roadsides, loam, limestone, sandy, silty, clayey, and gravelly soils. | Sandy washes, rocky slopes, desert scrub. |
Elevation | 300–2400 m. (1000–7900 ft.) | 400–2000 m. (1300–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; IA; IL; KS; MN; MT; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; AB; MB; SK
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CA; NV
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Discussion | Mentzelia decapetala is introduced in Grundy County, Illinois. It appears to be native throughout the rest of its distribution. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mentzelia nitens is similar to both M. eremophila and M. jonesii but exhibits little distributional overlap with either species. See 71. M. eremophila and 73. M. jonesii for discussion of similarities. Reports of M. nitens from Arizona are based on specimens treated here as M. jonesii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 504. | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Bartonia decapetala | |
Name authority | (Pursh) Urban: Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 10: 263. (1892) | Greene: Fl. Francisc., 234. (1891) |
Web links |