Mentzelia oreophila | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Cornales |
Family: | Loasaceae |
Genus: | Mentzelia |
Species: | M. oreophila |
Binomial name | |
Mentzelia oreophila | |
Mentzelia oreophila is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common name Argus blazingstar. It is native to the Southwestern United States and the Mojave Desert sky islands in California. It grows in rocky desert and scrub habitat.
It is a perennial herb producing several tangling, sometimes multibranched stems up to 40 centimeters long which are whitish in color and peeling in texture. The leaves are wavy and sometimes toothed, the upper ones clasping the stem.
The inflorescence is an array of many flowers. Each flower has five narrow yellow petals and five staminodes which look very similar to, and may be mistaken for, more petals. At the center of the flower are many whiskery stamens. The fruit is cup-shaped utricle up to a centimeter long and wide. It contains many tiny winged, lens-shaped seeds which are bumpy under magnification.
Phacelia campanularia is a species of flowering plant in the borage family, Boraginaceae, known by the common names desertbells, desert bluebells, California-bluebell, desert scorpionweed, and desert Canterbury bells. Its true native range is within the borders of California, in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts, but it is commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant and it can be found growing elsewhere as an introduced species.
Calochortus striatus, known by the common name alkali mariposa lily, is a species of mariposa lily native to California and into Nevada.
Lepidium fremontii, the desert pepperweed, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family which is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows on sandy desert flats and the rocky slopes of nearby hills and mountains. It takes its scientific name from John C. Frémont.
Calochortus kennedyi is a North American species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name desert mariposa lily.
Clarkia franciscana is a rare species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name Presidio clarkia. It is endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area of California, where it is known only from two populations at the Presidio of San Francisco and three occurrences in Oakland. The plant is known only from serpentine soils.
Epilobium foliosum is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common names leafy willowherb and California willowherb. It is native to parts of western North America from British Columbia through California to Arizona, where it grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas.
Herissantia crispa is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names bladdermallow and curly abutilon. It is native to the tropical Americas but it can be found throughout the tropical and warmer temperate world as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. This is a perennial or sometimes annual herb growing up to about 1.5 meters in maximum stem length, usually taking a trailing or creeping form. It is coated in whitish hairs. The oval or heart-shaped leaves are up to 7 centimeters long with rippled edges. The inflorescence is a solitary flower emerging from a leaf axil, borne on a long-haired pedicel which is half erect and then jointed downward. The flower has five pale yellow oval petals each up to a centimeter long. The fruit is a lantern-like inflated sphere ribbed into segments. It is up to 2 centimeters wide, coated in long hairs, and dehiscent, each segment containing 2 or 3 black kidney-shaped seeds.
Mentzelia albicaulis is a species of flowering plants in the family Loasaceae known by the common names whitestem blazingstar, white-stemmed stickleaf, and small flowered blazing star. It is native to much of western North America, where it grows in mountain, desert, and plateau habitat.
Mentzelia nitens is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common names shining blazingstar and Venus blazingstar. It is native to the Mojave Desert and adjacent desert and mountain areas of eastern California and southern Nevada.
Mentzelia polita is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common name polished blazingstar. It is native to the southwestern United States, where it grows in desert mountains, washes, and other dry habitat.
Parietaria hespera is a species of flowering plant in the nettle family known by the common name rillita pellitory. It is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, where it grows in many types of habitat, from coast to desert, dry to moist, and sometimes in disturbed areas. It is an annual herb taking an erect or spreading form up to half a meter long or forming a mat or dense tangle. The stems may branch or not. They are lined with alternately arranged leaves up to 2 centimeters long and varying in shape from oval to round or somewhat kidney-shaped. The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers emerging from the leaf axils. The flower has no petals but greenish sepals which may be tinged yellowish or reddish brown.
Pseudostellaria jamesiana is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names tuber starwort and sticky starwort. It is native to much of the western United States, where it can be found in sagebrush, coniferous forests, and many other types of habitat. It is a perennial herb growing from a rhizome network with tuberlike swellings. The stem grows up to 45 to 60 centimeters in maximum height. It is four-angled and usually at least partially coated in glandular hairs. The thick lance-shaped leaves are up to 15 centimeters long, oppositely arranged, and sometimes rough and hairy. The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers at the tip of the stem or in the leaf axils. Flowers occurring in leaf axils are sometimes cleistogamous, never opening. Open flowers have five white petals with two lobes at the tips and usually ten long stamens.
Ribes quercetorum is a species of currant known by the common names rock gooseberry, oak gooseberry and oakwoods gooseberry. It is native to the mountains and hills of California from the San Francisco Bay Area south into Baja California and east into Arizona.
Acleisanthes nevadensis is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common names desert moonpod and desert wing-fruit. It is native to a section of the southwestern United States encompassing southern Nevada and adjacent corners of Utah and Arizona. One occurrence has been observed in eastern California. The plant grows in desert habitat such as scrub and rocky washes. This herb produces several spreading stems up to about 30 centimeters in maximum length, sometimes from a woody base. The stems are covered in many leaves with fleshy oval or rounded blades up to 3 centimeters long which are borne on petioles. The herbage of the plant is coated in thick, wide, white, furry hairs, interspersed with shorter, flat hairs. Some hairs are glandular. Flowers occur in leaf axils. Each is a trumpet-shaped bloom with a narrow, tubular green throat up to 4 centimeters long and a round white corolla face about a centimeter wide, sometimes tinged yellow or greenish. There are five long, protruding stamens and a long style tipped with a spherical stigma. The fruit is a ribbed, hairy body with five broad, white wings.
Silene lemmonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common name Lemmon's catchfly.
Stanleya elata is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Panamint princesplume. It is native to the desert mountains of eastern California and western Nevada, where it grows in rocky and scrubby habitat types. It may also occur in Arizona. It is a perennial herb producing one or more erect stems reaching about 1.5 meters in maximum height. They are hairless and often waxy in texture. The thick, leathery leaves have lance-shaped or oblong blades with smooth or toothed edges measuring up to 15 centimeters long. They are borne on petioles. The top of the stem is occupied by a long inflorescence which is a dense, snaking raceme of many flowers. Each flower has four narrow, threadlike yellow or whitish petals each about a centimeter long and a millimeter wide. The fruit is a long, thin, wormlike silique which may be 10 centimeters in length. It contains tiny seeds.
Stanleya viridiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known as green princesplume and green-flowered prince's plume. It is native to the western United States, where it occurs in sagebrush and plateau habitat, often on rocky calcareous, sandstone, clay, shale, or volcanic soils.
Thelypodium milleflorum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names manyflower thelypody and many-flowered thelypodium. It is native to western North America, particularly the Great Basin and surrounding plateau, desert, and foothill habitat, where it grows in sagebrush and scrub.
Tidestromia lanuginosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae known by the common name woolly tidestromia.
Calochortus syntrophus is a rare species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common names Callahan's mariposa lily and clustered mariposa lily. It is endemic to northern California, where it occurs in a remote area north of Montgomery Creek in Shasta County. It has also been spotted in adjacent Tehama County. Its habitat includes open, rocky areas with moist or wet soils in oak woodland territory. It was first discovered in 1993 and its description was published the following year.