Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Mentzelia multiflora [Mentzelia lutea] [Mentzelia pumila] [Nuttallia multiflora]
- Family
- Loasaceae
- CommonName
- Adonis blazingstar
- Presence
- YES
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1916
- LatestDate
- 2021
- Ecosystem
- basin, shrubland, foothill, montane, ruderal
- Geobotanical
- SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos, UBasin
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache
- Passes
- La Veta, Wolf Creek
- WildlifePreserves
- Baca, Great Sand Dunes, La Jara, San Luis Lakes
- Other Localities
- Alamosa (town)
- Comments
- Adonis blazingstar is common around the Valley, preferring gravelly or sandy dry soil, often associated with Chrysothamnus spp. or Juniperus spp. but also taking advantage of disturbed soil such as road sides and abandoned fields. The Upper Basin records are early and not exact: “dry grasslands,” etc. This is a blazingstar of eastern Nevada, Utah, Arizona, southern Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico, where it follows the Rio Grande drainage about two-thirds down the state. Note that the taxon has been called a "garbage bin" (FNA) or "junk" (Ackerfield 2022) species—a name given to a specimen that doesn't seem to fit any other species. Ackerfield (2022) says there are so many misidentifications of Colorado "multiflora" that she declines to provide a map. She says that in Colorado the "multiflora" in her key is restricted to the Front Range. She also says that the northern distribution may be better treated as M. lutea Greene and the southern as M. multiflora. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that with a specimen of Mentzelia inflorescence and seeds usually cannot be observed at the same time. Here are my observed traits of "M. multiflora" from the Watershed: petals longer than 8 mm; bracts entire; capsule not ridged, outermost stamens petaloid; stem leaves pinnately lobed; seeds with wide wings and a coat with sinuate anticlinal walls. I've never observed a Watershed M. multiflora with pure white petals—the color ranges from pale yellow to golden yellow.
- Annotation