Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia asperula |
|
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Pacific blazing star |
mountain stickleaf, Organ Mountain blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 8–45 cm. | Plants annual, without caudices or tubers. |
Stems | erect, to 25 cm. |
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Leaves | petiole to 12 mm (proximal leaves), absent (distal leaves); blade usually ovate to hastate, or smallest distal elliptic or lanceolate, basally lobed or unlobed, to 4.5 × 3.5 cm, base cuneate or obtuse to truncate, margins serrate, 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) 1–3 × 2 mm. |
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Flowers | 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. |
petals orange, 5–8 × 3–5 mm, apex cuspidate, hairy abaxially at apex; stamens 10–20, 5–8 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform; style 3–5 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
subcylindric to clavate, 12–25 × 3–5 mm, base tapering gradually, capsule and pedicel not well-differentiated. |
Seeds | 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. |
(7–)8–10(–12) per capsule, pyriform, without transverse folds. |
2n | = 36. |
= 20, 40. |
Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia asperula |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | Flowering Aug–Oct. |
Habitat | Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. | Rocky limestone or igneous slopes, arroyo bottoms, grasslands, oak woodlands. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) | 0–1800 m. (0–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico; c Mexico
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Discussion | 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.) |
Populations consistent with the form and geographic region of the type specimen of Mentzelia asperula (collected in southwestern New Mexico) have been recovered in two clades of sect. Mentzelia. In one clade, M. asperula is closely related to M. isolata; in the second clade, it is closely related to M. gypsophila B. L. Turner of northern Mexico (J. Grissom 2014). The polyphyly of M. asperula likely represents convergence on rapid developmental times and small, self-fertilizing flowers. In southeastern Arizona, M. asperula can be difficult to distinguish from M. isolata; see the discussion of the latter for more information. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. | FNA vol. 12, p. 528. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Mentzelia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) | Wooton & Standley: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 16: 148. (1913) |
Web links |