Perennial Blazingstar (Mentzelia perennis)
Description
Plants perennial, bushlike, with ground-level caudices. Stems multiple, erect, straight; branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy. Leaves: blade 25-100 - 1-18.1 mm, widest intersinus distance 1-4.2 mm; proximal spatulate to elliptic, margins entire or dentate to pinnatisect, teeth or lobes 0-26, slightly antrorse, 0.6-9.5 mm; distal oblanceolate, elliptic, or lanceolate, base not clasping, margins entire, serrate, or pinnatisect, teeth or lobes 0-24, slightly antrorse, 0.4-7.1 mm; abaxial surface with needlelike and occasionally simple and complex grappling-hook trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. Bracts: margins usually entire, occasionally pinnate. Flowers: petals light yellow, 11.4-19(-22.7) - 1.8-3.6(-5) mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially; stamens light yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 11-18.1(-22.7) - (0.5-)1-3.7 mm, without anthers, second whorl without anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis papillate; styles 7.5-11.4 mm. Capsules cup-shaped, 6.8-12 - (4-)4.8-9.1 mm, base tapering or rounded, not longitudinally ridged. Seeds: coat anticlinal cell walls wavy, papillae 6-14 per cell. 2N = 18. Flowering Jul-Aug. Roadsides, hillside slopes, gypsum-rich soils; 1200-2200 m; N.Mex.
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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