Mentzelia pectinata
Mentzelia multiflora
San Joaquin blazing star
Adonis blazingstar, Adonis stickleaf, desert stickleaf, many-flower western star
solitary, erect, straight;
branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, upcurved; hairy.
blade 35.9–125(–146) × 2.2–26.2 mm, widest intersinus distance 2.1–11.9(–14) mm, always on some leaves 4+ mm;
proximal oblanceolate, lanceolate, or elliptic, margins pinnate, lobes 14–30, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.5–4.6(–8.9) mm;
distal lanceolate, base not clasping, margins pinnate, lobes 10–26, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.3–9.5 mm;
abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and generally needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook or needlelike trichomes.
persisting;
petiole present or absent;
blade lanceolate to linear, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.
petiole absent;
blade ovate to linear, to 12 cm, margins deeply lobed to dentate.
green, ovate to lanceolate, 6.6–12.8 × 1.9–6.8 mm, width 1/5–2/3 length, not concealing capsule, margins 3–7-lobed.
margins entire or toothed to pinnate.
sepals 3–13 mm;
petals red to orange proximally, orange to yellow distally, 8–22 mm, apex mucronate, rounded, or retuse;
stamens 20+, 4–11 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed;
styles 5–13 mm.
petals light to golden yellow, (11.4–)13.8–24.4(–26.9) × 4–7.5 mm, apex rounded, glabrous abaxially;
stamens light to golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, (10.6–)12–21.7 × 2.1–5.1 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers;
anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;
styles 7.7–15.8 mm.
clavate, 12–35 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 90° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.
cylindric, 11.2–24.7 × 5.6–8.7 mm, base tapering to rounded, not longitudinally ridged.
20–40, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled or not, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface tuberculate under 10x magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent;
seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges more than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity.
coat anticlinal cell walls sinuous, papillae 34–48 per cell.
= 18.
= 18.
Mentzelia pectinata
Mentzelia multiflora
Mentzelia pectinata occurs in Kern, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Tulare counties, around the southern rim of the San Joaquin Valley, extending into the Inner Coast Ranges and the southern foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Petal color varies from orange to yellow, and fully fertile artificial hybrids have been obtained between populations representing the extreme phenotypes (J. E. Zavortink 1966). Phylogenetic studies suggest that M. pectinata and M. congesta have hybridized to form several allopolyploid species (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b) despite their current allopatric distributions.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Mentzelia multiflora has been considered one of the most widespread species in sect. Bartonia, a result of treating the species as a "garbage bin" for populations that lack features characteristic of more specialized species. The phylogenetic study by J. J. Schenk and L. Hufford (2011) showed that populations consistent with the type of M. multiflora are centered in the southern Rocky Mountains, especially along their eastern front, and the species notably does not occur in Arizona, California, Nevada, or Utah, in which it regularly has been described in regional floras. In the intermountain region, many specimens previously determined as M. multiflora are M. longiloba. In southeastern New Mexico and Texas, many specimens previously determined as M. multiflora are likely to be M. procera or M. longiloba var. chihuahuaensis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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