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

Argus blazing star, Darlington's blazing star, pubescent blazingstar

Habit Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. Plants perennial, bushlike, with subterranean caudices.
Stems

multiple, erect or decumbent, straight;

branches along entire stem, distal longest, antrorse, upcurved; hairy.

Leaves

blade 18.8–62.7 × 11–36 mm, widest intersinus distance 8.9–28.8 mm;

proximal broadly elliptic to obovate, margins dentate to serrate, teeth 8–12, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–4 × 1.7–6 mm;

distal ovate or obovate, base not clasping, margins dentate to serrate, teeth 6–12, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–3.5 mm;

abaxial surface with complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with needlelike trichomes.

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.

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.

petals golden yellow, 6.7–9.5(–12.6) × 2.3–5.8 mm, apex rounded, glabrous abaxially;

stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 5.4–9.2(–11) × 1.3–2.7 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers twisted after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 4.1–6.8(–9) mm.

Capsules

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

cup-shaped, 5–9.8 × 5–8 mm, base rounded, not longitudinally ridged.

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.

coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 3–5 per cell.

2n

= 54.

= 20, 22.

Mentzelia veatchiana

Mentzelia puberula

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering Feb–Oct.
Habitat Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. Bases of steep cliffs in crevices composed of basalt, granite, and limestone, steep gravelly and sandy slopes, sandy washes.
Elevation 200–2500 m. (700–8200 ft.) 90–2200 m. (300–7200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[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.)

Populations of Mentzelia puberula are associated with the Colorado River in Arizona, California, Nevada, and northern Mexico. Disjunct populations also occur in the Gila Mountains of Arizona.

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 543. FNA vol. 12, p. 514.
Parent taxa Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Trachyphytum Loasaceae > Mentzelia > sect. Bartonia
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. 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. 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) J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 177. (1934)
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