Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia puberula |
|
---|---|---|
Pacific blazing star |
Argus blazing star, Darlington's blazing star, pubescent blazingstar |
|
Habit | Plants candelabra-form, 8–45 cm. | Plants perennial, bushlike, with subterranean caudices. |
Stems | multiple, erect or decumbent, straight; branches along entire stem, distal longest, antrorse, upcurved; hairy. |
|
Leaves | blade 18.8–62.7 × 11–36 mm, widest intersinus distance 8.9–28.8 mm; proximal broadly elliptic to obovate, margins dentate to serrate, teeth 8–12, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–4 × 1.7–6 mm; distal ovate or obovate, base not clasping, margins dentate to serrate, teeth 6–12, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–3.5 mm; abaxial surface with complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with needlelike trichomes. |
|
Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins usually irregularly deeply lobed, lobes pointed. |
|
Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15(–22) cm, margins few-lobed or entire. |
|
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, 6.7–9.5(–12.6) × 2.3–5.8 mm, apex rounded, glabrous abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 5.4–9.2(–11) × 1.3–2.7 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers twisted after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 4.1–6.8(–9) mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cup-shaped, 5–9.8 × 5–8 mm, base rounded, 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, papillae 3–5 per cell. |
2n | = 36. |
= 20, 22. |
Mentzelia obscura |
Mentzelia puberula |
|
Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | Flowering Feb–Oct. |
Habitat | Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. | Bases of steep cliffs in crevices composed of basalt, granite, and limestone, steep gravelly and sandy slopes, sandy washes. |
Elevation | 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) | 90–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
|
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
|
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 of Mentzelia puberula are associated with the Colorado River in Arizona, California, Nevada, and northern Mexico. Disjunct populations also occur in the Gila Mountains of Arizona. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 540. | FNA vol. 12, p. 514. |
Parent taxa | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum | Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) | J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 177. (1934) |
Web links |