Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia strictissima |
|
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Veatch's blazing star, white-stem blazingstar, white-stem stick-leaf |
grassland blazingstar |
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Habit | Plants candelabra-form, (5–)20–50 cm. | Plants biennial, candelabra-form. |
Stems | solitary (or multiple as wound response), erect, straight; branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy. |
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Leaves | blade 28–70 × 5.8–17.2 mm, widest intersinus distance 3.4–11.4 mm; proximal oblanceolate, lanceolate, or elliptic, margins dentate to pinnate, teeth or lobes 10–20, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.9–3.1 mm; distal lanceolate, base usually not clasping, rarely clasping, margins usually dentate, occasionally serrate, teeth 8–18, usually perpendicular to leaf axis, occasionally slightly antrorse, 0.6–5.4 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. |
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Basal leaves | persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate, margins deeply to shallowly lobed. |
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Cauline leaves | petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, to 17 cm, margins usually deeply lobed to dentate, rarely entire. |
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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 white, 14.7–22(–24.4) × 1.9–4.4 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially; stamens white, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 13.3–23.1 × 1.3–3.1(–4.4) mm, without anthers, second whorl without anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 7.6–12.9 mm. |
Capsules | clavate, 8–28 × 2–4 mm, axillary curved to 70° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. |
cup-shaped to cylindric, 10.2–20.1 × 6.7–9.6 mm, base rounded to occasionally 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 wavy, papillae 3–8 per cell. |
2n | = 54. |
= 20. |
Mentzelia veatchiana |
Mentzelia strictissima |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–Jun. | Flowering May–Oct. |
Habitat | Loamy to sandy soils, grasslands, desert scrub, oak-pine woodlands. | Arid grasslands. |
Elevation | 200–2500 m. [700–8200 ft.] | 800–1800 m. [2600–5900 ft.] |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; OR
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NM; TX |
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.) |
See discussion under 5. Mentzelia nuda. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 12, p. 543. | FNA vol. 12, p. 505. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | M. albicaulis var. veatchiana | Nuttallia strictissima |
Name authority | Kellogg: Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2: 99, fig. 28. (1863) | (Wooton & Standley) J. Darlington: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 21: 163. (1934) |
Web links |