Pacific Blazingstar (Mentzelia obscura)
Description
Plants candelabra-form, 8-45 cm. Basal leaves persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins usually irregularly deeply lobed, lobes pointed. Cauline leaves: petiole absent; blade ovate-lanceolate to linear, to 15(-22) cm, margins few-lobed or entire. Bracts green, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2.9-8.2 - 1.1-1.9 mm, width 1/8-1/2 length, not concealing capsule, margins entire. Flowers: sepals 2-6 mm; petals yellow to orange proximally, yellow distally, 3-8 mm, apex rounded or acute apex; stamens 20-40, 2-7 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 2-6 mm. Capsules clavate, 11-31 - 1.5-3 mm, axillary curved to 250- at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. Seeds 15-50, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, usually not, occasionally sparsely, dark-mottled, usually irregularly polygonal, occasionally triangular prisms proximal to mid fruit, surface colliculate under 10- magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges less than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. 2N = 36. Flowering Feb-May. Sandy to rocky washes or slopes, desert scrub, Joshua-tree woodlands, roadsides; 200-1700 m; Ariz., Calif., Nev., Utah; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora).
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Cornales
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Family: Loasaceae
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Genus: Mentzelia
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