Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia laciniata |
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Pacific blazing star |
cut-leaf blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 8–45 cm. | Plants biennial, bushlike or candelabra-form. |
Stems | solitary, erect, straight; branches distal or along entire stem, distal or proximal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 52–112 × (5.4–)8.3–25 mm, widest intersinus distance 1.4–4 mm; proximal oblanceolate or elliptic, margins pinnatisect, lobes 8–20, slightly antrorse, 4.2–7.4(–10.7) mm; distal oblanceolate, elliptic, or lanceolate, base not clasping, margins usually pinnatisect, sometimes pinnate, especially near apex, lobes 8–18, slightly antrorse, 3–10.8 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with needlelike trichomes. |
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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. |
margins usually entire, rarely pinnate. |
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 golden yellow, 14–23.8(–26) × 3.8–7.4 mm, apex acute to rounded, glabrous abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate to elliptic, slightly clawed, 12–20.4 × 2.5–4.9 mm, usually without, rarely with, anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 9.2–17.7 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cylindric, 12–20.2 × 4.5–8.1 mm, base tapering, not longitudinally ridged. |
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. |
coat anticlinal cell walls sinuous, papillae 5–14 per cell. |
2n | = 36. |
= 20. |
Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia laciniata |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | Flowering Jun–Sep. |
Habitat | Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. | Dry hillsides, roadcuts, roadsides, sandy or clayey soils. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) | 1400–2300 m. (4600–7500 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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CO; NM |
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.) |
Mentzelia laciniata is found in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, where it does not extend as far west as the Chuska Mountains. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. | FNA vol. 12, p. 517. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Touterea laciniata | |
Name authority | H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) | (Rydberg) J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 173. (1934) |
Web links |