Mentzelia oreophila
Argus blazing star
Family: Loasaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Argus blazing star is a California native perennial found in the White and Inyo Mountains, eastern Desert Mountains, and eastern Desert Sonoran regions in rocky washes, roadcuts, and talus slopes at elevations of 150 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from February to October, this plant produces bright yellow flowers 7 to 17 millimeters long with obtuse to rounded tips. Growing with erect, hairy stems 15 to 53 centimeters tall that branch throughout, it develops from a branched tap-rooted caudex. Its leaves vary distinctively, with lower leaves 2 to 10 centimeters long, 6 to 40 millimeters wide, oblanceolate to elliptic and slightly wavy-toothed, while upper leaves are shorter and deltate to heart-shaped with clasping bases. The fruit is an erect, cup-shaped structure 5 to 10 millimeters long, containing small white to pale gray seeds with white wings.
Habitat: Washes, roadcuts, talus slopes of limestone soils
Bloom period: Feb-Oct
Elevation: 150-2200 m
Bioregions: W&I, DMoj, e DSon
California counties: Inyo, San Bernardino, Mono
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.