Kingdom Plantae Family Loasaceae Scientific name Mentzelia polita Rank Species | Order Cornales Genus Mentzelia Higher classification Mentzelia | |
 | ||
Similar Mentzelia pectinata, Mentzelia, Mentzelia tricuspis | ||
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.
Description
It is a perennial herb producing a peeling white stem from a caudex, reaching up to about 30 centimeters in maximum height. The lance-shaped leaves are a few centimeters long and have no teeth or lobes.
The inflorescence is a cluster of flowers with pale yellow to nearly white petals up to 1.4 centimeters long. The fruit is a cup-shaped utricle under a centimeter wide which contains many lens-shaped, bumpy seeds about 3 millimeters wide.
References
Mentzelia polita Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA