LOASA FAMILY 137 



6. Mentzelia Torreyi A. Gray. Lava Stick-leaf. Fig. 3285. 



Mentzelia Torreyi A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 10: 72. 1874. 

 Mentzelia acerosa M. E. Jones, Contr. West. Bot. No. 17: 30. 1930. 



Cespitose, 5-15 cm. high, the stems several from the crown of a perennial taproot, densely 

 short-hispid, much branched. Leaves sessile, 2-3 cm. long, thick and firm, divided into 3-5 sub- 

 ulate spine-tipped lobes with revolute margins and prominent midribs ; flowers solitary in the 

 axils; sepals 5, subulate, 10 mm. long; petals yellow, spatulate to oblanceolate, 12-15 mm. long; 

 stamens 25-30, all with filiform filaments; capsule ovoid-urceolate, 5-6 mm. long; seeds few, 

 turgid, obscurely angled, slightly rugose, not winged. 



Dry plains in volcanic or saline soils. Upper Sonoran Zone; southern Idaho south to Nevada and Mono 

 County, California. Type locality: "Sterile saline plains, Humboldt County, Nevada. June-Sept. 



7. Mentzelia reflexa Coville. Panamint Stick-leaf. Fig. 3286. 



Mentzelia reflexa Coville, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 8: 74. 1892. 



Annual, hirsute with barbed hairs, the stems diffusely branching from the base, 5-15 cm. 

 high. Lower leaves narrowly oblanceolate, petioled, 4-6 cm. long, the upper sessile or subsessile, 

 broadly ovate, irregularly sinuate-dentate, densely short-hirsute beneath with barbed hairs, 

 sparsely pubescent with stiff spine-like hairs above; flowers solitary in the upper forks of the 

 branches, pedicelled ; sepals subulate, 6-8 mm. long ; petals 8, slightly exceeding the sepals, oblan- 

 ceolate, acute; stamens 9-15, the filaments somewhat dilated above; style cleft one-third its 

 length ; capsule oblong-ovoid, 8-10 mm. long, reflexed on the short recurved pedicels ; seeds 10— 

 12, obovoid, angled and with rather deep transverse grooves on each face, muriculate. 



Desert washes. Lower Sonoran Zone; Inyo and northern San Bernardino Counties, California. Type local- 

 ity: Surprise Canyon, Panamint Mountains, California. April-June. 



8. Mentzelia Lindleyi Torr. & Gray. Lindley's Blazing Star. Fig. 3287. 



Bartania aurea Lindl. Bot. Reg. 22: pi. 1831. 1836. Not Mentzelia aurea Nutt. 1818. 

 Mentzelia Lindleyi Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 533. 1840. 

 Acrolasia aurea Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 278. 1903. 



Annual, the stems 1-6 dm. high, simple or branched. Leaves lanceolate to narrowly lanceo- 

 late, sessile, 4-10 cm. long, pectinately pinnatifid, terminal lobe elongated and acute, the lateral 

 entire or toothed ; flowers solitary or in 2-3-flowered clusters at the end of the branches ; sepals 

 10-15 mm. long, narrowly lanceolate; petals obovate, 2-4 cm. long, abruptly rounded to a short 

 acumination, golden yellow with a vermillion base; stamens numerous, outer filaments somewhat 

 dilated at base, the others filiform ; capsule 2-5 cm. long, linear-clavate, hirsute ; seeds numerous, 

 irregularly angled, minutely tuberculate. 



Rocky or sandy hillsides and canyons, Upper Sonoran Zone; Inner Coast Ranges, central California. Type 

 locality: California, collected by Douglas. May-Aug. Golden Bartonia. 



Mentzelia Lindleyi subsp. crocea (Kell.) C. B. Wolf, Occ. Papers Rancho Santa Ana Bot. Gard. 1: 71. 

 1938. {Mentzelia crocea Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 7: 110. 1876.) Plant with leaves less pinnatifid than the 

 species; petals ovate to narrowly obovate, tapering to the apex, the short acumination at the apex less pronounced 

 than in the species. Sierra Nevada foothills from Tuolumne County to Tulare County, California. Type locality: 

 Sierra Nevada foothills. 



9. Mentzelia nitens Greene. Shining Stick-leaf. Fig. 3288. 



Mentzelia nitens Greene, Fl. Fran. 234. 1891. 



Acrolasia nitens Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 278. 1903. 



Mentzelia Lindleyi var. eremophila Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 650. 1925. 



Mentzelia Lindleyi var. nitens Jepson, Fl. Calif. 2: 534. 1936. 



Annual, the stems branching from the base and more or less decumbent. 3-5 dm. high, white, 

 smooth and shining. Leaves lanceolate, sessile, pinnatifid with linear lobes, or the uppermost 

 entire, short-pubescent and scabrous ; flowers in the upper axils and terminal ; sepals lanceolate- 

 acuminate, 6-10 mm. long; petals golden yellow throughout, obovate, 15-20 mm. long, rounded 

 or emarginate at apex ; stamens one-third to half as long as the petals, dilated at base ; capsule, 

 clavate-cylindric, 15-25 mm. long; seeds irregularly and sharply angled, tuberculate. 



Sandy mesas and hillsides, Lower Sonoran Zone; Mono County, California, south to the Mojave Desert of 

 southern California and adjacent Nevada and Arizona. Type locality: near Benton. Mono County, California. 

 April-May. 



10. Mentzelia affinis Greene. Hydra Stick-leaf. Fig. 3289. 



Mentzelia affinis Greene, Pittonia 2:203. 1890. 

 Acrolasia affinis Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 278. 1903. 



Annual, the stems branching from the base or simple below and branching above, 4-6 dm. 

 high, white, shining, glabrous or minutely pubescent. Basal leaves oblanceolate, narrowed to a 

 petiole, the cauline sessile, lanceolate, sinuate-pinnatifid ; flowers scattered; bracts lanceolate- 

 acuminate, entire or few-toothed below, shorter than the ovary; sepals, attenuate-subulate, 4-6 

 mm. long; petals yellow, 6-8 mm. long, obovate; stamens 25-40, filaments all filiform; capsule 

 15-20 mm. long, narrowly cylindric, hispid, the hairs short, stiff, and strongly pustulate at base ; 

 seeds short-cubical, grooved on the angles and minutely muriculate on the sides. 



Sandy soils or rocky slopes, Sonoran Zones; San Joaquin Valley and the surrounding foothills to Orange 

 County, California, east to western Arizona. Type locality: "Plains of the San Joaquin near Lathrop," Cali- 

 fornia. April-June. 



