Mentzelia montana

Mountain blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Mountain blazing star is a California native annual found in the Cascade Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, northeastern Sierra Nevada, and northern Desert Mountains in open, disturbed slopes, grasslands, sagebrush scrub, and conifer forests at elevations of 600 to 3,400 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with orange bases, typically 2 to 6 millimeters long, emerging from dense or open clusters with lanceolate bracts. Growing 4 to 48 centimeters tall with erect stems that range from glabrous to hairy, it has a variable form across different habitats. Its leaves vary from proximal lobed to distal entire or lobed, typically less than 13 centimeters long, creating a delicate and adaptable appearance. The fruit is an erect to slightly curved capsule 6 to 17 millimeters long, containing irregular-rounded seeds with dark mottling on a tan background.

Habitat: Open, generally disturbed slopes, flats, grassland, sagebrush scrub, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 600-3400 m

Bioregions: CaR, SN, TR, PR, SNE, n DMtns

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Tulare, Ventura, Kern, Los Angeles, Inyo, Mono, San Diego, Lassen, Plumas, Nevada, Alpine, Modoc, Siskiyou, Santa Barbara, Placer, Tuolumne, Sierra, Shasta

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