Mentzelia monoensis

Mono craters blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Mono craters blazing star is a California native annual ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in the eastern Sierra Nevada in coarse pumice soils and disturbed sites with bitterbrush and Jeffrey pine at elevations of 2,000 to 2,485 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with orange bases, typically 2 to 4 millimeters long. Growing 10 to 30 centimeters tall with erect stems densely covered in bristly hairs, it has a distinctive branching form. Its lower leaves feature up to 6 pairs of short, somewhat opposite lobes, while upper leaves remain mostly entire. The fruit is a slender cylindric to obconic structure 6 to 15 millimeters long, containing irregularly rounded tan seeds with grooved edges.

Habitat: Coarse pumice soils and disturbed sites, sometimes with bitterbrush and Jeffrey pine

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 2000-2485 m

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