Mentzelia floridana |
Mentzelia obscura |
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Florida stickleaf, poorman's patch, poorman's patches |
Pacific blazing star |
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Habit | Plants perennial, with caudices. | Plants candelabra-form, 8–45 cm. |
Stems | erect, becoming decumbent, to 60 cm. |
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Leaves | petiole to 25 mm; blade usually hastate or ovate, distal sometimes elliptic, basally lobed or unlobed, to 8.4 × 5.5 cm, base usually truncate, sometimes obtusely cuneate, margins usually serrate or dentate to crenate, sometimes entire, apex acute. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins usually irregularly deeply lobed, lobes pointed. |
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Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15(–22) cm, margins few-lobed or entire. |
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Bracts | green, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2.9–8.2 × 1.1–1.9 mm, width 1/8–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
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Pedicels | (fruiting) 0.6–4 × less than 1 mm. |
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Flowers | petals creamy yellow to orange, 6.5–13 × 3.5–7 mm, apex cuspidate, hairy on apex; stamens 20–35, 6–11 mm, filaments heteromorphic, 5 outermost narrowly spatulate, inner filiform; style 8–10 mm. |
sepals 2–6 mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, 3–8 mm, apex rounded or acute apex; stamens 20–40, 2–7 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 2–6 mm. |
Capsules | usually lingulate to funnelform, rarely ovoid, 10–18 × 4–5.8 mm, base rounded or cuneate, capsule and pedicel well-differentiated. |
clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
Seeds | (4–)6–8 per capsule, pyriform, without transverse folds. |
15–50, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, usually not, occasionally sparsely, dark-mottled, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface colliculate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges less than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. |
2n | = 20. |
= 36. |
Mentzelia floridana |
Mentzelia obscura |
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Phenology | Flowering Sep–May. | Flowering Feb–May. |
Habitat | Beaches, dunes, sand flats along ocean and rivers, coastal hammocks, disturbed areas, roadsides, shell mounds. | Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) |
Distribution |
FL; West Indies (Bahamas) |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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Discussion | Mentzelia floridana, which is widespread in peninsular Florida, belongs to a clade restricted to the Gulf coastal and Caribbean region; it is most closely related to M. gracilis Urban & Gilg of Mexico and to M. lindheimeri of Texas. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Mentzelia obscura is morphologically intermediate to M. desertorum and M. albicaulis and is known to occur in mixed populations with both species. Reliable discrimination among these species usually requires mature seeds. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 528. | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Mentzelia | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 533. (1840) | H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) |
Web links |