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Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)
Annual Forbs Around Las Vegas, Vegetation Around Las Vegas
Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)

General: Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) is an annual forb that looks like a small, rounded shrub (a mound of crinkled leaves) topped with large, cup-shaped, pale-yellow flowers. The medium-sized leaves are hairy, and the flowers have five petals and many stamens. Long, white flower bracts remain on the fruit after the petals fall.

Whitebract Blazingstar is an uncommon component of desert vegetation communities during the spring. It can be found on dry, well-drained sandy and gravelly desert flats, bajadas, and moderate slopes in the lower mountains in the Lower Sonora (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Family: Loasa (Loasaceae).

Other Names:

Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)

Plant Form: Rounded, herbaceous annual.

Height: To about 14-inches tall.

Stems: Thick, but not woody.

Leaves: Alternate, linear to oval, to about 3/4 inch long, irregularly toothed. Hairs present.

Flowers: Blooms early to late spring. Inflorescence: single flowers. Flower: 5 petals; petals 1/2 to 2-1/2 inches, pale yellow; stamens to 1-inch long.

Blazing Star (Mentzelia involucrata)
Note white bracts left after the flower

Fruit: cylindrical capsule. Long, white flower bracts remain on the fruit after the petals fall.

Seeds:

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: To about 3,000 feet.

Distribution: Nevada to California, and south into Mexico.

Comments:

Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)
Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)
Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)
Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)
Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) Whitebract Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata)

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate. Names generally follow the USDA database.
copyright; Last updated 220113

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