Mentzelia albicaulis

Small flowered blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Small flowered blazing star is a California native annual found in the Tehachapi Mountains, southern Great Basin, southern Baja California desert ranges, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert in sand dunes, gravel fans, washes, creosote-bush scrub, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces yellow flowers with orange bases, 2 to 7 millimeters long in delicate clusters. Growing with erect to decumbent stems 5 to 42 centimeters tall, ranging from glabrous to hairy with variable texture. Its leaves measure 1 to 11 centimeters long, with proximal leaves showing distinctive lobes while distal leaves remain entire or slightly lobed. The fruit is generally curved less than 180 degrees, 8 to 28 millimeters long, with tan to dark-mottled or black seeds featuring irregularly rounded or angular shapes.

Habitat: Sand dunes, gravel fans, washes, creosote-bush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: Teh, SnGb, SnBr, GB, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, San Diego, Riverside, Lassen, Plumas, Imperial, Modoc, Los Angeles, Monterey, Mono, Tulare, Ventura, Siskiyou, Glenn, Alpine, Sierra, Santa Clara, El Dorado, San Joaquin, Shasta, Placer, San Benito, Orange, Santa Barbara

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.