Mentzelia tricuspis

Spiny-hair blazing star

Family: Loasaceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 2B.1

Spiny-hair blazing star is a rare (CNPS 2B.1) California native annual found in southern Desert Mojave and southwestern Sonoran Desert regions on sandy or gravelly slopes in creosote-bush scrub at elevations of 150 to 1,280 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to pale yellow flowers with widely obovate petals 11 to 30 millimeters long, featuring a distinctive mucronate tip. Growing 5 to 27 centimeters tall with erect stems covered in spiny hairs, it develops lanceolate to ovate leaves that are wavy or slightly toothed. Its leaves range from 2 to 12 centimeters long and are sessile or short-petioled, with a distinctive green coloration. The fruit is cylindric to barrel-shaped, standing erect or slightly reflexed and measuring 9 to 18 millimeters long.

Habitat: Sandy or gravelly slopes or washes in creosote-bush scrub

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 150-1280 m

Bioregions: s DMoj, sw DSon

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

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