Wingseed Blazingstar (Mentzelia pterosperma)
Description
Plants winter annual or biennial, candelabra-form. Stems solitary, erect, straight; branches distal, distal longest, antrorse, straight, hairy. Leaves: blade 13.8-78 - 3.8-20 mm, widest intersinus distance 2.5-15.8 mm; proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins entire or serrate to pinnate, teeth or lobes (0-)8-14(-22), slightly antrorse, 0.3-5.3 mm; distal elliptic to lanceolate, base usually clasping, rarely a few not clasping, margins usually serrate to pinnate, occasionally entire, teeth or lobes (0-)6-18, slightly antrorse, 2.8-4.3(-6.1) mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, occasionally complex grappling-hook, and rarely needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface occasionally with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. Bracts: margins usually entire, rarely pinnate. Flowers: petals golden yellow, 6.4-17(-20) - 2-5.3 mm, apex usually acute, occasionally rounded, glabrous abaxially; stamens golden yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments linear to oblanceolate, slightly clawed, 6.2-14.2(-17.5) - 1-3.9 mm, usually without, rarely with, anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 6-11 mm. Capsules cup-shaped, 7.3-13.7 - 5.5-9.8 mm, base rounded, not longitudinally ridged. Seeds: coat anticlinal cell walls straight, papillae 5-18 per cell. 2N = 22. Flowering Apr-Jun(-Jul). Disturbed soils, washes, sand dunes, roadcuts, badland knolls, clayey soils, gravelly soils with sandy or gypsum-rich clay; 300-1900 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Nev., Utah.
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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