''Mentzelia montana'', known by the common name variegated bract blazingstar, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Loasaceae Loasaceae is a family of 15–20 genera and about 200–260 species of flowering plants in the order Cornales, native to the Americas and Africa. Members of the family include annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants, and a few shrubs an ...

Description

''Mentzelia montana'' is an annual herb producing an erect stem approaching in maximum height. The leaves are mostly unlobed, the longest in the basal rosette up to 13 centimeters long and those higher on the stem reduced in size. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a narrow series of clusters of small flowers, each flower accompanied by a single toothed

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

with a white base and green tip. The five yellow petals of the flower are up to 7 millimeters long and are sometimes marked with red at the bases. The fruit is a narrow utricle up to 2 centimeters containing several tiny, angular seeds.

Taxonomy

The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''montana'' refers to mountains or coming from mountains.Archibald William Smith

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to much of western North America including the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

and northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is a member of the flora in many types of habitat, including coniferous forests,

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

, sagebrush scrub, and

desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

s.Jepson Flora Project
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References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Mentzelia montana''''Mentzelia montana'' — U.C. Photo gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q16985382

montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Western United States Flora of California Flora of Colorado Flora of Montana Flora of Nevada Flora of New Mexico Flora of Sonora Flora of Texas Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora without expected TNC conservation status