Rusby'S Blazingstar (Mentzelia rusbyi)
Description
Plants biennial or perennial, candelabra-form, perennials with ground-level caudices. Stems solitary, erect, straight; branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight; hairy. Leaves: blade 41-123 - 6.4-26.4 mm, widest intersinus distance 4.8-18 mm; proximal spatulate, elliptic, or lanceolate, margins dentate, teeth 10-24, perpendicular to leaf axis, 0.6-3.6 mm; distal lanceolate, base not clasping, margins dentate, teeth 10-22, perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.2-6 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. Bracts: margins pinnate. Flowers: petals light yellow, 11.8-23.8 - 3-6.9 mm, apex acute, glabrous abaxially; stamens light yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 9.2-19.5 - 1.5-4.5 mm, usually without, rarely with, anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 9-14 mm. Capsules cylindric, (13-)18.8-29 - 7-10.5 mm, base tapering to rounded, longitudinally ridged. Seeds: coat anticlinal cell walls sinuous, papillae 23-54 per cell. 2N = 20. Flowering Jul-Aug(-Sep). Mesic habitats, moist washes, roadsides, roadcuts, steep to gentle slopes, disturbed sites, rocky soils composed of sand and loam; 1800-3100 m; Ariz., Colo., N.Mex., Utah, Wyo.
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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