The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Pacific blazing star

Sivinski's blazingstar

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.

Leaves

blade 32.8–112.2 × 2.9–11.4 mm, widest intersinus distance 1–2.9 mm;

proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins pinnate, lobes 18–24, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.8–4 mm;

distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins pinnate, lobes 6–16, perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–5.1 mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with needlelike and occasionally simple grappling-hook 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 light to golden yellow, 9–14.7 × 3.1–6.4 mm, apex rounded, glabrous abaxially;

stamens light to golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 6.3–11.5 × 2.4–4.9 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 4.6–9.9 mm.

Capsules

clavate, 11–31 × 1.5–3 mm, axillary curved to 250° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.

cup-shaped, 8.2–12.7 × 5.1–7.7 mm, base tapering to 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 sinuous, papillae 12–21 per cell.

2n

= 36.

= 18.

Mentzelia obscura

Mentzelia sivinskii

Phenology Flowering Feb–May. Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides. Knolls, slopes, and grassland roadsides, gypsum or brown clayey soils.
Elevation 200–1700 m. (700–5600 ft.) 1500–1900 m. (4900–6200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; NM
[BONAP county map]
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 sivinskii is known from La Plata County, Colorado, and Rio Arriba and San Juan counties, New Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 540. FNA vol. 12, p. 522.
Parent taxa Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia
Sibling taxa
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. goodrichii, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. humilis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, M. aspera, M. asperula, M. candelariae, M. canyonensis, M. chrysantha, M. collomiae, M. congesta, M. conspicua, M. crocea, M. cronquistii, M. decapetala, M. densa, M. desertorum, M. dispersa, M. eremophila, M. filifolia, M. floridana, M. flumensevera, M. goodrichii, M. gracilenta, M. hirsutissima, M. holmgreniorum, M. hualapaiensis, M. humilis, M. integra, M. involucrata, M. inyoensis, M. isolata, M. jonesii, M. laciniata, M. laevicaulis, M. lagarosa, M. leucophylla, M. librina, M. lindheimeri, M. lindleyi, M. longiloba, M. marginata, M. memorabilis, M. mexicana, M. micrantha, M. mollis, M. monoensis, M. montana, M. multicaulis, M. multiflora, M. nitens, M. nuda, M. obscura, M. oligosperma, M. oreophila, M. pachyrhiza, M. packardiae, M. paradoxensis, M. pectinata, M. perennis, M. polita, M. procera, M. pterosperma, M. puberula, M. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, M. rhizomata, M. rusbyi, M. saxicola, M. shultziorum, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
Synonyms M. linearifolia
Name authority H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 284. (1971) J. J. Schenk & L. Hufford: Madroño 57: 253, fig. 4A. (2010)
Web links