Search / Plant Profile / Mentzelia conspicua

Plant Profile

Conspicuous Blazingstar (Mentzelia conspicua)

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Loasaceae
State: NM
Nature Serve ID: 135102
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 10/08/2019

Description:

Where is Conspicuous Blazingstar (Mentzelia conspicua) located in the wild?

States & Provinces:

Conspicuous Blazingstar can be found in New Mexico

Which CPC Partners conserve Conspicuous Blazingstar (Mentzelia conspicua)?

Institute for Applied Ecology

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 10/08/19

National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation (USDA-ARS)

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 10/08/21

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Center for Plant Conservation

10/08/2021

On September 21, 2019, Melanie Gisler from the Institute for Applied Ecology made a conservation seed collection of Mentzelia conspicua in Santa Fe National Forest on the side of Highway 84. The population was healthy, consisting of 200-300 adult plants. Melanie collected an estimated 13,000 seeds from 45 maternal plants. The hard seed coat of this species made it difficult to discern empty from filled seeds during processing. To address this viability concern, germination testing is pending at San Diego Zoo’s Native Plant Seed Bank.

Center for Plant Conservation

10/08/2021

In a collaboration between US Forest Service (USFS) and Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), 13,000 seeds from 45 maternal Mentzelia conspicua plants was collected from the Santa Fe National Forest. Because there is no IAE seed storage facility in New Mexico, the Institute for Applied Ecology split the seed lot between two seed receiving institutions: San Diego Zoo Native Plant Seed Bank in Escondido, CA and NLGRP in Fort Collins, CO.

Center for Plant Conservation

10/08/2021

Laynie Saidnawey, Institute for Applied Ecology

10/15/2019

The Mentzelia conspicua collection was done in the Santa Fe National Forest on the side of Highway 84. The population here was healthy, with between 200-300 plants present. Of the plants present almost all (98%) were reported to be mature. The average number of plants per square meter was 1-2, with 3 maximum reported. For this collection, 200 linear meters were covered to scout for plants. The parent rock reported for this collection is weathered shale. The biggest current threats to Mentzelia conspicua are invasive species moving in and road construction. The species is an early colonizer of disturbed areas such as road cuts, and therefore has a lot of competition from invasive species such as Melilotus spp. In this particular collection site invasive plant cover was reported to be between 25-49%.

Seed collection went smoothly with 45 maternal lines collected. Seed was mature and there were no big issues with seed predation. The biggest processing issue was with viability testing. It was incredibly hard to tell if the seed nucleus was full or empty, resulting in an incomplete viability testing. This was the only processing issue. Other than that maternal lines were divided and sent to the CPC and the NLGRP. No future testing is currently planned through the Institute for Applied Ecology with whom the collection was made.