Mentzelia springeri is a species of flowering plant in the family Loasaceae

Loasaceae

The Loasaceae is a family of 15-20 genera and about 200-260 species of flowering plants in the order Cornales, native to the Americas and Africa. The family comprises annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous plants, and a few shrubs and small trees.Genera...

 known by the common name Santa Fe blazingstar. It is endemic to New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

 in the United States, where it occurs in the Jemez Mountains

Jemez Mountains

The Jemez Mountains are a volcanic group of mountains in New Mexico, United States. The highest point in the range is Chicoma Mountain at an elevation of 11,561 feet . The town of Los Alamos and Los Alamos National Laboratory adjoin the eastern side of the range while the town of Jemez Springs...

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This perennial herb forms a mound of branching stems, giving it a bushy look. The white stems are up to 30 to 50 centimeters tall. The leaves are linear to lance-shaped, the lowest ones measuring up to 4 centimeters in length. The leaves are covered in barbed hairs that will stick to cloth. The flowers are borne at the ends of the stems. Each has 10 bright yellow glossy petals just over a centimeter long. The flowers bloom in July and August and open in the late afternoon. The fruit is a capsule up to a centimeter long.

This plant grows on rock outcrops in substrates of pumice

Pumice

Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...

 and ash

Ash

- Products of fire, incineration or combustion :The solid remains of fires, such as:* Ash , the compounds that remain after a scientific sample is burned; commonly reported as a percentage on pet food labels...

. The habitat is pinyon-juniper woodland

Pinyon-juniper woodland

A Pinyon-juniper woodland is a forest type characteristic of many parts the Western United States, often in higher elevations of desert ecoregions.-Locations:...

 and Ponderosa pine

Ponderosa Pine

Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...

 forest. Other plants in the habitat include Apache plume

Fallugia

Fallugia is a monotypic genus of shrub containing the single species Fallugia paradoxa, which is known by the common names Apache plume and ponil...

, rubber rabbitbrush, brownplume wirelettuce

Stephanomeria pauciflora

Stephanomeria pauciflora is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names brownplume wirelettuce, few-flowered wirelettuce, and prairie skeletonplant. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, where it grows in many types of habitat, including...

, sticky gilia, and gypsum phacelia.

Much of this plant's range is within Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier National Monument is a National Monument preserving the homes of the Ancestral Pueblo People. It is named after Swiss anthropologist Adolph Bandelier, who researched the cultures of the area. Bandelier was designated a National Monument on February 11, 1916, and most of its backcountry...

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There are few threats to its survival because it occurs in remote territory. Soil disturbance is not necessarily detrimental to the plant; it often grows along roads cut through the pumice.