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gypsum blazingstar

Uintah blazingstar

Habit Plants perennial, bushlike, with ground-level caudices. Plants perennial, bushlike, with subterranean caudices or rhizomes.
Stems

solitary or multiple, erect, straight;

branches distal or along entire stem, distal longest or all ± equal, antrorse; straight to upcurved; hairy.

multiple, erect, zigzag or straight;

branches distal or along entire stem, distal longest or all ± equal, antrorse, upcurved; hairy.

Leaves

blade 25–95 × 5.5–28(–36.2) mm, widest intersinus distance 0.8–9.1 mm;

proximal spatulate to oblanceolate or elliptic, margins pinnate to pinnatisect, lobes 4–16(–20), slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 2.3–11.8(–16.4) mm;

distal elliptic, lanceolate, spatulate, or linear, base not clasping, margins entire or dentate to pinnatisect, teeth or lobes (0–)4–16, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 2.3–13.8(–16.9) mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, needlelike, and sometimes complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes.

blade 17–56 × 5.8–28 mm, widest intersinus distance 1–4.9(–6) mm;

proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins pinnate to pinnatisect, lobes 4–12, antrorse, 1.9–7.7 mm;

distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins pinnate to pinnatisect, lobes 4–12, antrorse, 2.6–13.3 mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and occasionally complex grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes.

Bracts

margins usually entire, rarely pinnate.

margins entire.

Flowers

petals white, 10.3–13(–28.6) × 1.4–4 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially;

stamens white, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments linear to narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 8.8–19(–22.3) × 0.7–3.3 mm, without anthers, second whorl without anthers;

anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis papillate;

styles 6.5–11.3 mm.

petals golden yellow, 8.5–15.2 × 3.8–7.9 mm, apex acute to rounded, glabrous abaxially;

stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments broadly spatulate, strongly clawed, 5–10.4 × 2.8–6 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers usually twisted after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 5.8–8.5 mm.

Capsules

cup-shaped, 5.3–10.2 × (4.2–)5.2–8.6 mm, base rounded, not longitudinally ridged.

cup-shaped, 4.2–8.8 × 3.6–5.8 mm, base tapering to rounded, not longitudinally ridged.

Seeds

coat anticlinal cell walls wavy, papillae 6–12 per cell.

coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 4–7 per cell.

2n

= 22.

Mentzelia humilis

Mentzelia uintahensis

Phenology Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Sparsely vegetated steep talus slopes and roadcuts.
Elevation 1500–2800 m. (4900–9200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
NM; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; UT
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

The basionym of Mentzelia humilis is often cited as M. multiflora var. humilis A. Gray (1852). However, in that publication Gray indicated accepted names in Roman capitals (see ipni.org), whereas the varietal name is in lower case, indicating that he was using it as a descriptive term rather than a scientific name. Valid publication of the basionym thus must be attributed to Urban and Gilg.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Mentzelia uintahensis is known from northwestern Colorado (Rio Blanco, Mesa, and Moffat counties) and northeastern Utah (Carbon, Duchesne, and Uintah counties).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blade widest intersinus distances 0.8–2.6(–3.3) mm; lobes of proximal leaves 1–2.9 mm wide.
var. humilis
1. Leaf blade widest intersinus distances 1.6–9.1 mm (always on some leaves greater than 2.6 mm); lobes of proximal leaves (1.1–)2.9–5.1 mm wide.
var. guadalupensis
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 503. FNA vol. 12, p. 510.
Parent taxa Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia
Sibling taxa
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. goodrichii, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. obscura, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. goodrichii, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. humilis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. obscura, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. veatchiana
Subordinate taxa
M. humilis var. guadalupensis, M. humilis var. humilis
Synonyms M. pumila var. humilis, Nuttallia humilis, Touterea humilis M. multicaulis var. uintahensis
Name authority (Urban & Gilg) J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 155. (1934) (N. H. Holmgren & P. K. Holmgren) J. J. Schenk & L. Hufford: Novon 19: 120. (2009)
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