Mentzelia mollis |
Mentzelia nitens |
|
---|---|---|
smooth blazingstar, smooth stick-leaf, soft blazingstar |
shining blazing star, Venus blazingstar |
|
Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 3–15(–20) cm. | Plants candelabra-form, 5–20(–35) cm. |
Basal leaves | not persisting. |
persisting; petiole present or absent; blade lanceolate to linear, margins usually deeply to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. |
Cauline leaves | petiole present (proximal leaves), absent (distal leaves); blade lanceolate to linear (proximal leaves), ovate to lanceolate (distal leaves), to 6 cm, margins dentate or entire (proximal leaves), entire (distal leaves). |
petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or entire. |
Bracts | green, ovate to elliptic, 5–8.5 × 2–5 mm, width 2/5–3/5 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
green, lanceolate, 4.5–8.3 × 1.2–3.6 mm, width 1/5–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
Flowers | sepals 3–5.5 mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, 8–12 mm, apex rounded; stamens 20+, 3–8 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 7–9 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 or clavate, 5–22 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 45° at maturity, often prominently longitudinally ribbed. |
clavate, 13–26 × 2–3.5 mm, axillary curved to 180° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
Seeds | 15–25, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled, irregularly polygonal, surface smooth to minutely tessellate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall flat to slightly convex. |
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 | = 36. |
= 18. |
Mentzelia mollis |
Mentzelia nitens |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering Apr–Jun. |
Habitat | Barren, sodic or calcic clay slopes and bluffs derived from volcanic ash. | Sandy washes, rocky slopes, desert scrub. |
Elevation | 800–1500 m. (2600–4900 ft.) | 400–2000 m. (1300–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
ID; NV; OR
|
CA; NV
|
Discussion | Mentzelia mollis is narrowly distributed in eastern Malheur County, Oregon, and western Owyhee County, Idaho, and disjunctly in the Black Rock Range of Humboldt County, Nevada. Recent phylogenetic studies support treatment of these disjunct populations as a single species (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b). In both ranges, M. mollis is predominantly limited to barren soils with high salinity. Mentzelia mollis is listed as endangered by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants. (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. 539. | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | M. Peck: Leafl. W. Bot. 4: 183. (1945) | Greene: Fl. Francisc., 234. (1891) |
Web links |