Mentzelia pectinata

San joaquin blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

San joaquin blazing star is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, southern San Joaquin Valley, southern Coast Ranges, and northern Western Transverse Ranges in grassland and oak woodland habitats at elevations below 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces striking orange to yellow flowers with red to orange bases, petals 8 to 22 millimeters long. Growing 8 to 54 centimeters tall with erect to decumbent stems covered in fine hairs, it has a distinctive branching habit. Its leaves range from 2 to 12 centimeters long, generally toothed or lobed with variable shapes. The fruit is an erect to slightly curved capsule 12 to 35 millimeters long, containing small tan seeds with irregularly angular surfaces.

Habitat: Slopes of sandy to gray-white, calcium-rich soils, grassland to oak woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 1400 m.

Bioregions: s SNF, s SnJV, s SCoRO, n WTR.

California counties: Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Los Angeles, Kern, Kings, Merced, San Joaquin, Tulare, Monterey, Fresno, Alameda, San Diego

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