Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia jonesii |
|
---|---|---|
Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf |
Jones stickleaf, Jones' blazing star |
|
Habit | Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. | Plants candelabra-form, 20–40(–50) cm. |
Basal leaves | 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 lobed to dentate. |
Cauline leaves | 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 15 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or 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. |
green, ovate to lanceolate, 3.7–5.9 × 0.8–3.9 mm, width 1/8–2/3 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. |
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. |
sepals (2–)4–8(–10) mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, (6–)8–22 mm, apex acute to rounded; stamens 20+, 3–10 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 4–10 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
clavate, 15–38 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 180° or S-shaped at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
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. |
15–30, 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 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. |
2n | = 54. |
= 36, 54. |
Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia jonesii |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | Flowering Mar–May. |
Habitat | Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. | Sandy to rocky washes, fans, or flats, creosote-bush scrub, Joshua-tree or saguaro woodlands. |
Elevation | 200–2500 m. [700–8200 ft.] | 200–1500 m. [700–4900 ft.] |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; OR
|
AZ; CA; NV; UT
|
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 jonesii is widespread throughout southeastern California and western and southern Arizona. However, tetraploid populations have been found only in California and far northwestern Arizona. Hexaploids in California have previously been called M. californica. The ranges of M. jonesii and the diploid, M. nitens, overlap in southern Inyo County, California, and these species are difficult to distinguish morphologically without mature seeds; sepal and petal lengths, which have sometimes been used to distinguish them, overlap completely. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 543. | FNA vol. 12, p. 537. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. albicaulis var. veatchiana | M. albicaulis var. jonesii, M. californica, M. nitens var. jonesii |
Name authority | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) | (Urban & Gilg) H. J. Thompson & J. E. Roberts: Phytologia 21: 282. (1971) |
Web links |