Mentzelia decapetala |
Mentzelia speciosa |
|
---|---|---|
10-petal western star, evening starflower, gumbo-lily, tenpetal blazingstar |
jeweled blazingstar, showy western star |
|
Habit | Plants biennial or perennial, bushlike, perennials with ground-level caudices. | Plants biennial, bushlike or candelabra-form. |
Stems | solitary, erect, straight; branches distal or along entire stem, proximal or distal longest, antrorse, straight to upcurved; hairy. |
solitary, erect, straight; branches distal or along entire stem, distal or proximal longest, antrorse, upcurved; hairy. |
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. |
blade 43.6–233 × 9.2–34.7 mm, always some longer than 146 mm, widest intersinus distance 5.2–17 mm; proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 10–38, slightly antrorse, 1.5–9.4 mm; distal lanceolate, base not clasping, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 8–24, slightly antrorse, 2.9–10.3 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. |
Bracts | margins pinnate. |
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. |
petals golden yellow, 14.4–28.6 × 3.8–8 mm, apex acute to rounded, glabrous abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 13–21.3 × 2.9–6.8 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 8.9–15.2 mm. |
Capsules | cylindric, 30–43 × 12–17 mm, base tapering, not longitudinally ridged. |
cylindric, 13.1–31.1 × 5.7–9.4 mm, base tapering to rounded, not longitudinally ridged. |
Seeds | 2.3–4 mm; coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 4–10 per cell. |
coat anticlinal cell walls wavy, papillae 4–13 per cell. |
2n | = 22. |
= 18, 20. |
Mentzelia decapetala |
Mentzelia speciosa |
|
Phenology | Flowering Jun–Aug(–Oct). | Flowering Jun–Sep. |
Habitat | Rock outcrops, slopes, dry short-grass prairies, riverbanks, roadsides, loam, limestone, sandy, silty, clayey, and gravelly soils. | Dry hillside slopes, roadcuts, roadsides, reddish, rocky soils. |
Elevation | 300–2400 m. (1000–7900 ft.) | 1500–3000 m. (4900–9800 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; IA; IL; KS; MN; MT; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WY; AB; MB; SK
|
CO; WY |
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 sinuata is treated here as a synonym of M. speciosa. The morphological characters previously used to differentiate these taxa are much more variable and overlapping than previous authors have identified, including within material from type populations. Although typical morphological forms of each taxon can be found, intermediate forms are found throughout the putative species’ highly overlapping ranges, often in a single population. The main character used to differentiate the two species has been chromosome number, with M. sinuata having 2n = 18 and M. speciosa having 2n = 20. Until a cytological study is conducted on populations throughout the range, M. speciosa is regarded as a single species that contains two chromosomal lineages. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 504. | FNA vol. 12, p. 522. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Bartonia decapetala | M. aurea, M. sinuata, Nuttallia sinuata, N. speciosa, Touterea sinuata |
Name authority | (Pursh) Urban: Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Ges. 10: 263. (1892) | Osterhout: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 689. (1901) |
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