Mentzelia obscura

Plant: annual herb; to 30 cm tall Leaves: to 8 cm long, sessile, elliptic to lanceolate; margins entire or those of the basal leaves lobed. BRACTS lanceolate to ovate, green, occasionally with whitish bases, mostly not on the ovary; margins mostly entire or few-toothed INFLORESCENCE: cymose Flowers: sessile; petals yellow, 2.5-6 mm long, 1.5-3.5 mm wide; staminodia 0; stamens ca. 15-30, all with linear filaments; style 2-4 mm long Fruit: capsules clavate, long-tapering to base; base not woody; body 11-22 mm long, the earliest S-shaped or arching at least 90 degrees. SEEDS pendulous, not winged, those in upper half of capsule grain-like, several-faceted, irregular in cross-section, the angles rounded; testa cells with straight adjoining walls, the surface walls domed Misc: Deserts; 150-1350 m (500-4500 ft); Feb-May REFERENCES: Christy, Charlotte M. 1998. Loasaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 96.