|
Family: Loasaceae
whitestem blazingstar, more, small-flowered blazing star, whitestem stickleaf, white blazingstar
[Acrolasia albicaulis (Dougl. ex Hook.) Rydb., more, Acrolasia gracilis , Mentzelia albicaulis var. ctenophora (Rydb.) St. John, Mentzelia albicaulis var. gracilis J. Darl., Mentzelia albicaulis var. tenerrima (Rydb.) St. John, Mentzelia gracilis H.J. Thompson & Lewis non Urban & Gilg, Mentzelia mojavensis H.J. Thompson & Roberts, Trachyphytum gracile ]
|
Plant: Annual herb; STEMS to 45 cm tall
Leaves: to 15 cm long, sessile, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate; margins mostly lobed, often with teeth in the sinuses. BRACTS narrowly lanceolate to ovate, green, sometimes with faintly whitish bases, mostly not on ovary; margins entire or few-toothed
Inflorescence: cymose
Flowers: sessile; petals yellow, 2-5 mm long; staminodia 0; stamens ca. 15-30, all with linear filaments; style 2-4 mm long
Fruit: capsules clavate, often long-tapering to base; base not woody; body 8-28 mm long, straight or arched less than 180 degrees. SEEDS pendulous, not winged, those in upper half of capsule grain-like, several-faceted, irregular in cross-section, the angles sharp; testa cells with straight adjoining walls, the surface walls pointed-papillate
Misc: Upper elevations of warm deserts to chaparral and Great Basin Desert on a variety of soil types; 300-2250 m (1000-7400 ft); Feb-Jun
References: Charlotte Christy - Loasaceae - JANAS 30:96-111.
ASU Specimens.
|