Mentzelia involucrata

Bracted blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Bracted blazing star is a California native annual found in the low desert bioregion in creosote-bush scrub, washes, fans, and steep slopes at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from January to May, this plant produces white to pale yellow flowers with orange veins, 13 to 62 millimeters long, with distinctive white-scarious bracts having green-edged margins. Growing with erect hairy stems 7 to 35 centimeters tall, it develops an upright posture typical of its annual lifecycle. Its leaves range 2 to 18 centimeters long, lanceolate to ovate in shape, with irregular tooth-like edges that provide visual texture. The fruit develops as an erect cylindrical structure 14 to 25 millimeters long, containing small ashy-white seeds with distinctive transverse ridges.

Habitat: Washes, fans, steep slopes, creosote-bush scrub

Bloom period: Jan-May

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, San Diego, Inyo, Kern, Tulare

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