Mentzelia pumila is in the Loasa family. Kearny and Peebles in Arizona Flora say, “the family is remarkable for the diversity and peculiar structure of the hairs”. It’s pretty hard to hike around the borderlands and not have stickleaf plant parts stuck to your clothing and those sticky plant parts are tough to remove.
Another common name I ran across for Mentzelia is blazing star. A name easily understood when you see those blazing flowers open in the late afternoon to be visited by native bees and moths.
A couple notes: the book I mentioned is A Field Guide to Desert Holes, by Pinau Merlin. I recommend adding it to your field guides. Oh, and the photo of the stickleaf flower was taken just a few feet from the front door of our 1991 Marvelette.
Petey feels the need to jabber about three different wildflowers. This better be interesting. We did not have good winter rains and what wildflowers...
Petey is excited about finding a wonderful weedy herb in the Goosefoot Family (Chenopodiaceae) growing along the banks of the ol’ Guajolote.
Leslie Newton Goodding had a busy career. It was when he worked for the U. S. Department of Agriculture that he collected the type...
