Mentzelia eremophila |
Mentzelia todiltoensis |
|
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pinyon blazing star, solitary blazing star |
Jemez Mountains blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, (7–)30–50(–60) cm. | Plants biennial or perennial, bushlike, with ground-level caudices. |
Stems | solitary or multiple, erect, straight; branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 41–121 × 1.5–40 mm, widest intersinus distance 1.1–3.3 mm; proximal oblanceolate, elliptic, or linear, margins entire or serrate to pinnatisect, teeth or lobes 0–26, slightly antrorse, (0.9–)2.4–18.6 mm; distal oblanceolate, elliptic, lanceolate, or linear, base not clasping, margins entire, serrate, or pinnatisect, teeth or lobes 0–22, slightly antrorse, 0.8–18 mm; abaxial surface with needlelike and occasionally simple grappling-hook and/or complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with needlelike trichomes. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins very deeply lobed, lobes slender. |
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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 | green, ovate to lanceolate, 4.8–12.4 × 0.9–3.5 mm, width 1/8–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins usually entire, rarely 2-lobed. |
margins entire or pinnate. |
Flowers | sepals (7–)9–16 mm; petals yellow, 12–25 mm, apex acute or mucronate; stamens 20+, 3–10 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 7–15 mm. |
petals light to golden yellow, (10.4–)11.7–24.6 × 1.8–5.1 mm, apex acute to rounded, glabrous abaxially; stamens light to golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 10–21 × 1.4–4 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers twisted or occasionally straight after dehiscence, epidermis papillate; styles 5.5–12.7 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 19–40 × 2–3.5 mm, axillary curved to 270° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cup-shaped to cylindric, 6.7–20.2 × 4.5–8.5 mm, base tapering or rounded, not longitudinally ridged. |
Seeds | 30–60, 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. |
coat anticlinal cell walls sinuous, papillae 6–12 per cell. |
2n | = 18. |
= 20. |
Mentzelia eremophila |
Mentzelia todiltoensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–May. | Flowering Jul–Oct. |
Habitat | Rocky slopes, washes, canyons, creosote-bush scrub. | Hillside slopes, hilltops, hard gypsum-rich clayey soils. |
Elevation | 600–1300 m. (2000–4300 ft.) | 1600–2200 m. (5200–7200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA
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NM |
Discussion | Mentzelia eremophila is narrowly distributed in eastern Kern and northwestern San Bernardino counties. It is morphologically similar and closely related to M. nitens (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010). However, M. eremophila generally has longer sepals, petals, and styles, and populations of M. nitens have not been found south of Inyo County in California. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mentzelia todiltoensis occurs in northcentral New Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 537. | FNA vol. 12, p. 508. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. lindleyi var. eremophila | |
Name authority | (Jepson) H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 281. (1971) | N. D. Atwood & S. L. Welsh: W. N. Amer. Naturalist 65: 365, fig. 1. (2005) |
Web links |