Flora of North America species comparison

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Camissonia contorta

contorted pod suncup, contorted sun cup, contorted-pod evening-primrose, plains evening-primrose, slender evening primrose, twisted suncup
Habit Herbs usually villous throughout, often also glandular puberulent distally, or, rarely, entirely strigillose and glandular puberulent throughout.
Stems

usually erect, sometimes decumbent, slender, wiry, usually many-branched, to 50 cm.
Leaves

proximalmost not clustered near base, usually bluish green;

blade linear to narrowly elliptic, 1–3.5 × 0.1–0.5 cm, base cuneate or attenuate, margins sparsely serrulate, apex acute.
Flowers

opening near sunrise;

floral tube 1.6–2.7 mm, usually moderately to very sparsely pubescent inside on proximal 1/2, rarely glabrous;

sepals 1.6–4 mm, reflexed in pairs;

petals 2.5–5 mm, each ± with 2 red dots basally; episepalous filaments 1–2.6 mm, epipetalous filaments 0.5–1.5 mm, anthers 0.3–0.6 mm, pollen with usually more than 30% of grains 4- or 5-pored;

style 2.5–5.1 mm, stigma surroundedby anthers at anthesis.
Capsules

15–45 × 0.8–1.3 mm;

subsessile.
Seeds

0.7–0.9 × 0.3–0.4 mm.
2n

= 42.

Camissonia contorta
Phenology Flowering Mar–Jul.
Habitat Sandy soil, slopes, flats, disturbed areas, grasslands, chaparral, pinyon-juniper woodlands.
Elevation 0–2300(–2700) m. (0–7500(–8900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; NV; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Camissonia contorta is known from south Vancouver Island in British Columbia to south San Joaquin Valley and bordering foothills in Kern County, California, Ada and Adams counties in Idaho, western Nevada, east-central and southwest Oregon, and in Washington from San Juan and Whidbey islands, and Klickitat and Walla Walla counties.

P. H. Raven (1969) determined that Camissonia contorta is a self-compatible hexaploid and autogamous. The species probably arose, at least in part, following hybridization between the diploid C. campestris subsp. campestris and the tetraploid C. strigulosa, but some populations referred to as this species may also have originated following the functioning of an unreduced gamete in a tetraploid plant.

Although W. L. Wagner and P. C. Hoch (2009) came to a different conclusion for the valid publication of Camissonia contorta, the phrase “Camissonia contorta pubens” used by Kearney should be accepted as the telescoped representation of two different names: varietal and specific (K. N. Gandhi, pers. comm.).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Camissonia
Sibling taxa
C. benitensis, C. campestris, C. integrifolia, C. kernensis, C. lacustris, C. parvula, C. pubens, C. pusilla, C. sierrae, C. strigulosa
Synonyms Oenothera contorta, Sphaerostigma contortum
Name authority (Douglas) Kearney: Trans. New York Acad. Sci. 14: 37. (1895)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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