Mentzelia crocea
Saffron blazing star
Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native
Saffron blazing star is a California native annual found in the central Sierra Nevada Foothills and southern Sierra Nevada in rocky slopes, roadsides, grassland, and oak/pine woodland at elevations below 1,700 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with orange bases, 21 to 36 millimeters long and 8 to 17 millimeters wide in distinctive elliptic to obovate shapes. Growing with erect stems 34 to 100 centimeters tall that are notably hairy, it develops a complex branching structure. Its leaves vary distinctively from proximal lobed forms to distal toothed or lobed configurations, ranging from 1 to 40 centimeters in length. The fruit develops as an erect to slightly curved structure 20 to 35 millimeters long, containing irregularly rounded to angular tan seeds with dark mottling.
Habitat: Rocky slopes, roadsides, grassland, oak/pine woodland
Bloom period: May-Jun
Elevation: < 1700 m
Bioregions: c&s SNF, s SNH.
California counties: Fresno, Tuolumne, Tulare, Mariposa
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.