Mentzelia nitens |
Mentzelia multicaulis |
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shining blazing star, Venus blazingstar |
manystem blazingstar, multiple-branch blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 5–20(–35) cm. | Plants perennial, bushlike, with subterranean caudices or sometimes rhizomes. |
Stems | multiple, erect or decumbent, zigzag or straight; branches distal or along entire stem, distal longest or all ± equal, antrorse, straight to upcurved; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 20–49(–57) × 4.2–19 mm, widest intersinus distance 1.1–5.3 mm; proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins pinnate to pinnatisect, lobes 4–10, slightly antrorse, 0.7–7.6 mm; distal linear to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins entire or pinnate, lobes 0–10, slightly antrorse, 1.9–7.8 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade lanceolate to linear, margins usually deeply to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. |
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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, lanceolate, 4.5–8.3 × 1.2–3.6 mm, width 1/5–1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
margins entire. |
Flowers | 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. |
petals golden yellow, 10.6–17.9 × 5.1–9 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments oblanceolate, slightly clawed, 6.5–10.5 × 2–4.5 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers twisted or straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 6–11.5 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 13–26 × 2–3.5 mm, axillary curved to 180° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cup-shaped to cylindric, 6–13.6 × 3.4–6 mm, base tapering to rounded, not longitudinally ridged. |
Seeds | 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. |
coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 4–9 per cell. |
2n | = 18. |
= 22. |
Mentzelia nitens |
Mentzelia multicaulis |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jun. | Flowering Jun–Aug. |
Habitat | Sandy washes, rocky slopes, desert scrub. | Sparsely vegetated steep slopes, drainage gullies, roadcuts. |
Elevation | 400–2000 m. (1300–6600 ft.) | 2000–2500 m. (6600–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; NV
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CO
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Discussion | 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.) |
Mentzelia multicaulis is known to occur in Eagle, Grand, and Summit counties. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. | FNA vol. 12, p. 511. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Touterea multicaulis | |
Name authority | Greene: Fl. Francisc., 234. (1891) | (Osterhout) J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 156. (1934) |
Web links |