| Mentzelia leucophylla | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Cornales |
| Family: | Loasaceae |
| Genus: | Mentzelia |
| Species: | M. leucophylla |
| Binomial name | |
| Mentzelia leucophylla | |
Mentzelia leucophylla, known by the common name Ash Meadows blazingstar, is a rare species of flowering plant in the Loasaceae. It is endemic to southwestern Nevada, in the Western United States.
The locally endemic plant is only known from southern Nye County in southwestern Nevada. It is one of several rare plants only found at (endemic to) Ash Meadows in the Amargosa Desert, an area with a unique desert wetland ecosystem. [2] It is threatened by habitat degradation, and it is federally listed as a threatened species. [2]
Mentzelia leucophylla is a biennial or perennial herb growing up to 0.5 metres (1.6 ft) tall. The stem and herbage are coated in tiny white hairs, making them pale and velvety.
The wide inflorescence bears bright yellow flowers in May through September. The flowers open for a short time in the afternoon. [2] [3]
Ash Meadows is a stretch of desert floor with areas of wetland habitat kept moist by springs and seeps originating from a supply of groundwater under the Amargosa Valley. [2] This water supports a variety of flora and fauna, including many rare and endemic taxa such as Ash Meadows milkvetch (Astragalus phoenix) and Ash Meadows sunray (Enceliopsis nudicaulis var. corrugata), which are found growing alongside the Ash Meadows blazingstar. [2] A portion of the habitat is protected within the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, a unit in the regional Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
The substrate is fine-grained sand and clay crusted with salt and alkaline in pH. The area is generally dominated by shadscale (Atriplex confertifolia) and associated halophytic vegetation. [4]
For many decades the Ash Meadows area has been disturbed by a number of human activities, including peat mining, construction of roads, real estate development, and agricultural practices such as plowing, water diversion, and grazing. [2] The pumping of groundwater proved to be a serious threat, as it lowered the high water table that supports the ecosystem. [2]
The Mojave Desert is a xeric desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in southeastern California and southwestern Nevada, with small portions extending into Arizona and Utah.
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately 7 million acres, including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna.
The Amargosa Valley is the valley through which the Amargosa River flows south, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada and Inyo County in the state of California. The south end is alternately called the "Amargosa River Valley'" or the "Tecopa Valley." Its northernmost point is around Beatty, Nevada and southernmost is Tecopa, California, where the Amargosa River enters into the Amargosa Canyon.
The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge located in the Amargosa Valley of southern Nye County, in southwestern Nevada. It is directly east of Death Valley National Park, and is 90 mi (140 km) west-northwest of Las Vegas.
The Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge is a protected wildlife refuge, at the southern end of the Pahranagat Valley and administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is 90 miles (140 km) north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in Lincoln County, Nevada. The 5,380-acre (21.8 km2) refuge was created on August 16, 1963, and is part of the larger Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, and the Moapa Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
The Devils Hole pupfish is a critically endangered species of the family Cyprinodontidae (pupfishes) found only in Devils Hole, a water-filled cavern in the US state of Nevada. It was first described as a species in 1930 and is most closely related to C. nevadensis and the Death Valley pupfish. The age of the species is unknown, with differing analyses offering ranges between one thousand and sixty thousand years. It is a small fish, with maximum lengths of up to 30 mm (1.2 in). Individuals vary in coloration based on age and sex: males are bright metallic blue while females and juveniles are more yellow. A defining trait of this species is its lack of pelvic fins. The pupfish consumes nearly every available food resource at Devils Hole, including beetles, snails, algae, and freshwater crustaceans, with diet varying throughout the year. It is preyed on by the predaceous diving beetle species Neoclypeodytes cinctellus, which was first observed in Devils Hole in 1999 or 2000. Reproduction occurs year-round, with spikes in the spring and fall. Females produce few eggs, though, and the survivorship from egg to adult is low. Individuals live 10–14 months.
The Amargosa Desert is located in Nye County in western Nevada, United States, along the California–Nevada border, comprising the northeastern portion of the geographic Amargosa Valley, north of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge
Devils Hole is a geologic formation located in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park and surrounded by the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada, in the Southwestern United States.
Enceliopsis nudicaulis is a North American species of flowering plants in the daisy family known by the common name nakedstem sunray, or naked-stemmed daisy.
The Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge protects the lower course of the Bill Williams River, to its mouth at Lake Havasu reservoir, in western Arizona. It is located within eastern La Paz and Mohave Counties, in the Lower Colorado River Valley region.
Nitrophila mohavensis is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common name Amargosa niterwort. It is endemic to Nye County in southwestern Nevada and Inyo County, in eastern California.
The Death Valley freshwater ecoregion is a freshwater ecoregion in the western United States. It consists of endorheic rivers, lakes, and springs in the drainages of the Owens, Amargosa, and Mojave Rivers, in central-eastern California and southwestern Nevada.
Astragalus phoenix is a rare species of milkvetch known by the common name Ash Meadows milkvetch. It is endemic to Nye County, in southwestern Nevada.
Zeltnera namophila, known by the common name spring-loving centaury, is a rare species of flowering plant in the gentian family. It is endemic to the Amargosa Valley, in Nye County, southwestern Nevada.
Cyprinodon nevadensis is a species of pupfish in the genus Cyprinodon. The species is also known as the Amargosa pupfish, but that name may also refer to one subspecies, Cyprinodon nevadensis amargosae. All six subspecies are or were endemic to very isolated locations in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada.
Sidalcea nelsoniana is a rare species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names Nelson's checkerbloom and Nelson's checkermallow. It is native to the Willamette Valley and Coast Range of Oregon and the southwestern corner of Washington in the United States. It is threatened by the destruction and degradation of its habitat, and it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
The Ash Meadows naucorid, Ambrysus amargosus, are small insects of the Naucoridae family. They were first identified by Ira La Rivers in 1953. They live in the waters of Point of Rocks Springs, in the east-central region of Ash Meadows in Nye County, Nevada. Because of changes to their habitat, this species lives only in a few small stream channels. Scientific over-collection and introduced predatory fish are the main threats to these insects. They are the first species to be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). They are also currently protected under the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)
Mentzelia mollis is a species of flowering plant in the Loasaceae known by the common names soft blazingstar, smooth blazingstar, and smooth stickleaf. It is native to the western United States, where it occurs in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada.
Mentzelia chrysantha is a species of flowering plant in the Loasaceae known by the common names gold blazingstar and golden blazingstar. It is endemic to Colorado in the United States.
Grindelia fraxinipratensis, common name Ash Meadows gumweed, is a North American species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It is native to the southwestern United States, in Mojave Desert regions in Nye County in Nevada and Inyo County in California. Some of the Nevada populations lie inside the Nevada Test Site of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
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