Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Mentzelia micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae known by the common name San Luis blazingstar. It is native to the coastal mountain ranges of western North America from just north of the San Francisco Bay Area to Baja California. It grows in several types of mountain slope and hillside habitat, including chaparral and sometimes disturbed areas. This is an annual herb producing an erect green stem 10 to 80 centimeters in maximum height. The leaves are toothed or wavy along the edges, the longest in the basal rosette up to 18 centimeters long and those higher on the stem reduced in size. The flower cluster is an open array of several clusters of small flowers, each flower accompanied by a single wide leaf sometimes larger than the flower itself. The five yellow petals of the flower are under half a centimeter long. The fruit is a narrow cylindrical utricle containing several tiny, pyramidal seeds.

Plant type

Annual herb

Size

4 - 31 in Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Yellow

Flowering season

Spring

Sun

Full Sun, Partial Shade

Water

Low

Site type

Open, often disturbed places, oak

Plant communities

Chaparral, Oak Woodland

Bees
Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 1 likely

Confirmed Likely

Protogygia album