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Nuttallia procera Wooton & Standley, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 16: 150. 1913; Mentzelia pumila Torrey & A. Gray var. procera (Wooton & Standley) J. Darlington

Plants biennial, usually candelabra-form, rarely bushlike. Stems solitary, erect, straight; branches distal or occasionally along entire stem, distal or proximal longest, antrorse, straight or upcurved; hairy. Leaves: blade 38.3–108 × 5.3–14.9 mm, widest intersinus distance 1.7–3.9 mm; proximal oblanceolate to elliptic, margins pinnate, lobes 14–22(–26), perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.8–4.5 mm; distal elliptic to lanceolate, base not clasping, margins pinnate, lobes 6–18, perpendicular to leaf axis, 1.3–4.5 mm; abaxial surface with simple grappling-hook, complex grappling-hook, and occasionally needlelike trichomes, adaxial surface with simple grappling-hook and needlelike trichomes. Bracts: margins entire or toothed to pinnate. Flowers: petals light yellow, 9.5–16.8 × 3.4–5.6 mm, apex usually rounded, rarely acute, glabrous abaxially; stamens light yellow, 5 outermost petaloid, filaments narrowly spatulate, slightly clawed, 8.2–14.6 × 2.3–3.4 mm, without anthers, second whorl with anthers; anthers straight after dehiscence, epidermis smooth; styles 7.1–12.6 mm. Capsules cup-shaped to cylindric, 9.8–18.8 × 5.2–7.3 mm, base tapering, not longitudinally ridged. Seeds: coat anticlinal cell walls sinuous, papillae 28–68 per cell.

Flowering Jul–Aug. Dry hillsides, roadcuts, roadsides, sandy, clayey, or silty soils; 1400–2500 m; Ariz., Colo., N.Mex.; n Mexico.