The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

beach evening-primrose, beach suncup

Habit Herbs short-lived perennial, sometimes woody at base, usually densely strigillose throughout, rarely glabrous, also villous distally.
Stems

prostrate, decumbent, or ascending from base, to 60(–130) cm.

Leaves

0.5–5 × 0.3–2.2 cm;

petiole 0–1.5(–2.5) cm, distal ones to 1 cm;

blade narrowly ovate, base attenuate, cuneate, or cordate, margins sparsely serrulate, apex acute.

Flowers

opening near sunrise;

floral tube 2.1–8.5 mm;

sepals 4–11.5 mm;

petals yellow, often red-dotted near base, 6–20 mm; episepalous filaments 2.8–8 mm, epipetalous filaments 1.5–6 mm, anthers 1–3 mm, less than 5% of pollen grains 4- or 5-pored;

style 6–23 mm, stigma surrounded by or exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

Capsules

often coiled in 1–2 spirals, 4-angled, 10–25 × 2–2.5 mm.

Seeds

1.2–1.3 mm.

Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia

Distribution
w United States; nw Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia occurs on slopes and dunes along the immediate coast and on islands from Coos Bay, Curry County, Oregon, to the vicinity of San Quintín, Baja California; it is also known from the east shore of San Francisco Bay and locally on sand dunes along the lower Sacramento River, California, 0–100 m. P. H. Raven (1969) determined C. cheiranthifolia to be self-incompatible (some populations in subsp. suffruticosa) or self-compatible (both subspecies) and apparently pollinated by oligolectic bees of Andrena subg. Onagrandrena (Raven); Raven subdivided the species into two intergrading subspecies.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Plants primarily herbaceous; petals 6–11 mm; style 6–9 mm; stigma usually surrounded by anthers.
subsp. cheiranthifolia
1. Plants woody at base; petals (10–)12–20 mm; style 13–23 mm; stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.
subsp. suffruticosa
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Camissoniopsis
Sibling taxa
C. bistorta, C. confusa, C. guadalupensis, C. hardhamiae, C. hirtella, C. ignota, C. intermedia, C. lewisii, C. luciae, C. micrantha, C. pallida, C. robusta
Subordinate taxa
C. cheiranthifolia subsp. cheiranthifolia, C. cheiranthifolia subsp. suffruticosa
Synonyms Oenothera cheiranthifolia, Agassizia cheiranthifolia, Camissonia cheiranthifolia, Holostigma cheiranthifolium, Sphaerostigma cheiranthifolium
Name authority (Hornemann ex Sprengel) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 204. (2007)
Web links