Mentzelia veatchiana
Mentzelia gracilenta
Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf
blazing star, grass blazingstar, slender blazingstar
persisting;
petiole present or absent;
blade linear-lanceolate, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.
persisting;
petiole present or absent;
blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins deeply to shallowly lobed.
petiole absent;
blade ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, to 17 cm, margins usually deeply lobed to dentate, rarely entire.
petiole absent;
blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 13 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or entire.
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.
usually green with white base, occasionally green, obovate to ovate, 7.1–11.3 × 3–6.2 mm, width 2/5–3/5 length, not concealing capsule, margins 3–12-lobed.
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.
sepals 3–8 mm;
petals usually orange, rarely yellow, proximally, yellow distally, (7–)8–18 mm, apex retuse;
stamens 20+, 5–11 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed;
styles 5–11 mm.
clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.
cylindric or clavate, 9–15(–23) × 3–5 mm, axillary curved to 20° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed.
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.
15–25, 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 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity.
= 54.
= 36.
Mentzelia veatchiana
Mentzelia gracilenta
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 gracilenta occurs in the southern Coast Ranges and western Transverse Ranges (Fresno, Monterey, and San Benito counties below 1400 meters, and southern San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties above 1500 meters). Populations in the northern portion of its range are commonly associated with serpentine or other stressful substrates. Mentzelia gracilenta is very similar morphologically to M. ravenii, but it does not occur in desert communities, as does M. ravenii. Furthermore, these taxa appear to be phylogenetically distinct (J. M. Brokaw and L. Hufford 2010b).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
