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Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf

dal-pega, rough stickleaf, tropical blazingstar, tropical stickleaf

Habit Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. Plants annual, without caudices or tubers.
Stems

erect to decumbent, to 30 cm.

Leaves

petiole 10–65 mm;

blade hastate to ovate, usually basally lobed, sometimes unlobed, to 18 × 10 cm, base cuneate to truncate, margins serrate to crenate, apex acute.

Basal leaves

persisting;

petiole present or absent;

blade linear-lanceolate, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.

Cauline leaves

petiole absent;

blade ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, to 17 cm, margins usually deeply lobed to dentate, rarely entire.

Bracts

usually green with prominent white base usually conspicuously extending outwards from midvein, rarely green, usually ovate, rarely lanceolate, 3.3–6.2 × 1.5–3.2 mm, width 1/4–7/8 length, not concealing capsule, margins usually 3–7-lobed, rarely entire.

Pedicels

(fruiting) 1–3 × 2 mm (often appearing absent because thick and continuous with capsule).

Flowers

sepals 2–5 mm;

petals red to orange proximally, orange to yellow distally, 4–7(–10) mm, apex retuse;

stamens 20+, 3–7 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed;

styles (3–)3.5–6 mm.

petals orange or yellow, 5–15 × 3–7 mm, apex cuspidate, hairy abaxially at apex;

stamens 20–30, 5 mm, filaments heteromorphic, 5 outermost narrowly spatulate, inner filiform;

style 5 mm.

Capsules

clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.

subcylindric to clavate, 9–30 × 3–3.5 mm, base tapering gradually, capsule and pedicel not well-differentiated.

Seeds

15–35, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled, 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 or equal to 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity.

5–9 per capsule, pyriform to oblong, without transverse folds.

2n

= 54.

= 20.

Mentzelia veatchiana

Mentzelia aspera

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering Aug–Oct.
Habitat Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. Arroyo and canyon bottoms, grasslands, desert scrub, riparian cottonwood and willow vegetation.
Elevation 200–2500 m. (700–8200 ft.) 100–2000 m. (300–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies [Introduced in Atlantic Islands (Cape Verde Islands)]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Mentzelia veatchiana is the most common and widely distributed hexaploid species in sect. Trachyphytum. It exhibits considerable morphological variation and can be difficult to distinguish from M. montana in northern California. Like the larger-flowered M. pectinata, M. veatchiana has interfertile populations with petal colors ranging from orange to yellow (J. E. Zavortink 1966). When bearing orange petals, M. veatchiana is easily distinguished from other species. Reports of M. veatchiana from Utah are based on specimens treated here as M. montana.

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

Mentzelia aspera is uncommon in southern Arizona. It is the most widespread species of the genus and is regarded as weedy by some authors (H. J. Thompson and A. M. Powell 1981).

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 543. FNA vol. 12, p. 528.
Parent taxa Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Mentzelia
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. 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. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis
M. affinis, M. albescens, M. albicaulis, M. argillicola, M. argillosa, 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. sivinskii, M. speciosa, M. springeri, M. strictissima, M. thompsonii, M. tiehmii, M. todiltoensis, M. torreyi, M. tricuspis, M. tridentata, M. uintahensis, M. veatchiana
Synonyms M. albicaulis var. veatchiana
Name authority Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 516. (1753)
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