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

Roan Cliffs blazingstar

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

multiple, erect or decumbent, zigzag;

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

Leaves

blade 8.1–29 × 4.1–12.7 mm, widest intersinus distance 4.1–7.4 mm;

proximal oblanceolate, margins entire;

distal elliptic, base not clasping, margins entire or dentate, teeth 0–8, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.6–2.7 mm;

abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike 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, 12.5–17.2 × 6.1–11.2 mm, apex rounded to obtuse, glabrous abaxially;

stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, strongly clawed, 7–9.5 × 2.7–6 mm, with anthers, second whorl with anthers;

anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth;

styles 7–10 mm.

Capsules

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

cup-shaped, 7–10 × 6.5–8 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 9–13 per cell.

2n

= 54.

Mentzelia veatchiana

Mentzelia rhizomata

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun. Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. Sparsely vegetated, steep talus slopes with loose gravelly soils.
Elevation 200–2500 m. [700–8200 ft.] 1700–2100 m. [5600–6900 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO
[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.)

Mentzelia rhizomata is known only from Garfield County.

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

Source FNA vol. 12, p. 543. Treatment author: Joshua M. Brokaw. FNA vol. 12, p. 513. Treatment authors: John J. Schenk, Larry Hufford.
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. pumila, M. ravenii, M. reflexa, M. reverchonii, 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 Nuttallia rhizomata
Name authority Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) Reveal: Syst. Bot. 27: 763, figs. 1, 2. (2002)
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