Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia hirsutissima |
|
---|---|---|
Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf |
hairy blazingstar, hairy stickleaf |
|
Habit | Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. | Plants (5–)15–30(–40) cm. |
Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate, margins deeply to shallowly lobed. |
petioles present or absent; blade oblanceolate, to 11 cm; margins shallowly lobed, lobes rounded. |
Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, to 17 cm, margins usually deeply lobed to dentate, rarely entire. |
petioles absent; blade ovate to lanceolate, to 11 cm, base often cordate-clasping, margins deeply to shallowly lobed, lobes acute. |
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. |
green, inconspicuous, not concealing pedicel, ovary, or 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 yellow to orange, obovate, 12–31 mm, apex mucronate; stamens 4–12 mm, less than 1/2 petal length, all fertile, none petaloid (flowers appearing to have 5 petals); filaments ±monomorphic, linear, most or all distally 2-lobed, lobes to 0.3 mm; anther stalk longer than filament lobes; style 6–15 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cylindric to cup-shaped, 13–25 × 5–8 mm, erect. |
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. |
widest at middle, not grooved; seed coat anticlinal cell walls deeply wavy. |
2n | = 54. |
|
Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia hirsutissima |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. | Washes, fans, slopes, desert scrub. |
Elevation | 200–2500 m. [700–8200 ft.] | 0–800 m. [0–2600 ft.] |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; OR
|
CA; Mexico (Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora) |
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 hirsutissima is superficially similar to M. tricuspis and M. tridentata, but these taxa can be distinguished geographically. Mentzelia hirsutissima is distributed primarily on the Baja California Peninsula and occurs in California only in San Diego and far western Imperial counties, whereas M. tricuspis and M. tridentata occur north and east of this distribution. California populations previously have been called M. hirsutissima var. stenophylla. However, G. S. Daniels (1970) found that characters used to distinguish varieties of M. hirsutissima were not stable within populations. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 543. | FNA vol. 12, p. 525. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. albicaulis var. veatchiana | M. hirsutissima var. stenophylla, M. stenophylla |
Name authority | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) | S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 12: 252. (1877) |
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