Mentzelia involucrata (sand blazing star) ( )

Sand blazing star is a branched annual with large, funnel-shaped white-to pale-yellow flowers that an reach more than 2 inches in width. It has large, highly toothed basal leaves and small linear stem leaves. It occurs in a variety of habitats including creosote bush scrub and desert washes, but is most common in the southern Mojave and Sonoran deserts. "California Desert Plants, Philip J Rundel, Robert W Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."
A short-stemmed flower, cream or lemon in color, this is one of numerous western wildflowers given the name blazingstar. Each flower emerges from a set of narrow-lobed bracts (leaves from which a flower arises) coming off the whitish stems. Although other stickleafs are found in flower along sandy washes in early summer or fall, this species adds its color to the desert between February and April and is spent by summer. In far western Arizona, this flower is mimicked in size and color by the Mohave ghostflower, Mohavea confertifolia, which is pollinated by many small bees that usually visit blazingstars. "Arizona Highways Presents Desert Wildflowers, 1988."