Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia marginata |
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Pacific blazing star |
Colorado blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 8–45 cm. | Plants winter annual or biennial, candelabra-form. |
Stems | solitary, erect, straight; branches mostly distal, proximal longer than distal, all usually extending to near the distal end of plant, antrorse, straight; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 22–115 × 2.8–10.9(–17.2) mm, widest intersinus distance 2.2–7(–9) mm; proximal oblanceolate, elliptic, or lanceolate, margins dentate, teeth 10–24(–38), perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.5–4 mm; distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins dentate, teeth 8–20, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.3–5.6 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and usually with needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and 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 entire. |
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, 8–14.4 × 2.1–3.9 mm, apex acute, hairy abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 5.5–11.1 × 1.2–2.9 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis papillate; styles 5.3–10 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cylindric, 7–14.6 × 3.5–6.7 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 straight to slightly wavy, papillae 4–10 per cell. |
2n | = 36. |
= 20. |
Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia marginata |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. | Steep roadside banks, steep cliffs. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) | 1500–2000 m. (4900–6600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
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CO
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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.) |
Mentzelia marginata occurs on the western edge of Colorado in Delta, Garfield, Mesa, and Montrose counties. Reports of this species from Utah are based on specimens treated here as M. cronquistii. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. | FNA vol. 12, p. 506. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Nuttallia marginata | |
Name authority | H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) | (Osterhout) H. J. Thompson & Prigge: Great Basin Naturalist, 46: 549. (1986) |
Web links |