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

dwarf blazingstar, dwarf mentzelia, golden blazingstar

Habit Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. Plants biennial, candelabra-form.
Stems

solitary, erect, straight;

branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy.

Leaves

blade 19–82 × 4.8–22.1 mm, widest intersinus distance 2.7–6.7 mm;

proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 10–22, slightly antrorse or perpendicular to leaf axis, 1–5.5 mm;

distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins pinnate, lobes 8–14, usually perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.8–7 mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and 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 or toothed.

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, 7.6–12.3 × 2–3.8 mm, apex usually acute, occasionally rounded, glabrous abaxially;

stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 6.4–11.8 × 1.1–2.7 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 5.6–7.8 mm.

Capsules

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

cylindric, 10.8–20 × 5.3–7.6 mm, length more than 2 times diam., base tapering, 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 4–5 per cell.

2n

= 54.

= 22.

Mentzelia veatchiana

Mentzelia pumila

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. Hillside slopes, sandy and clayey soils.
Elevation 200–2500 m. (700–8200 ft.) 1100–2500 m. (3600–8200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; MT; WY
[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.)

The name Mentzelia pumila has been applied variously in regional floras and in other taxonomic treatments of Mentzelia; however, we follow R. J. Hill (1975) and N. H. Holmgren et al. (2005), which are consistent with our phylogenetic results (J. J. Schenk and L. Hufford 2011), in treating M. pumila as a species found only in Wyoming and adjacent areas of Colorado and Montana.

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 543. FNA vol. 12, p. 519.
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. puberula, 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) Torrey & A. Gray: Fl. N. Amer. 1: 535. (1840)
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