Mentzelia congesta

Clustered blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Clustered blazing star is a California native annual found in the eastern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, western Transverse Ranges, southern California coastal ranges, Peninsular Ranges, southeastern Sierra Nevada, and desert mountains in disturbed slopes, pine forest, sagebrush scrub, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 1,200 to 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces pale yellow to yellow flowers with orange bases, three to seven millimeters long, in dense clusters. Growing with erect stems seven to 40 centimeters tall that range from smooth to hairy, it develops distinctive bracts with white-scarious edges and green margins. Its leaves measure one to nine centimeters long and vary from entire to lobed, with irregular shapes. The fruit is an upright cylindrical structure five to 12 millimeters long, containing seeds with irregular angular shapes and tan coloration.

Habitat: Disturbed slopes, pine forest, sagebrush scrub, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 1200-2700 m

Bioregions: SNH (e slope), Teh, WTR, SnGb, PR, SNE, DMtns

California counties: Kern, Mono, Tulare, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Inyo, Lassen, El Dorado, Ventura, Riverside, San Diego, Mariposa, Santa Barbara, Nevada, Placer, Fresno, Siskiyou, Modoc, Sierra, Alpine, San Benito

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