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Munz's evening primrose

Habit Herbs annual, strigillose, often densely so. Herbs (annual or perennial), [shrubs].
Stems

several, 8–50 cm.

Leaves

primarily in basal rosette and also cauline, 1.5–20 × 0.5–3 cm;

petiole 0.5–5 cm;

blade pinnately lobed, terminal lobe ovate to narrowly ovate, 1.3–6 × 0.6–3 cm, margins denticulate, brownish oil cells lining veins abaxially.

alternate or basal;

stipules absent.

Racemes

nodding, not congested, elongating in mature bud.

Flowers

opening at sunrise;

buds with or without subapical free tips;

floral tube orange-brown inside, 2–3 mm, villous inside;

sepals 4–7 mm;

petals bright yellow, with red dots near base, fading pale yellow or yellowish orange, 3–10 mm;

stamens subequal, filaments 4–8 mm, anthers 3–6 mm, ciliate;

style 8–18 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

usually actinomorphic, rarely slightly zygomorphic (in Oenothera), (3 or)4-merous;

stamens 2 times as many, or rarely as many, as sepals;

pollen usually shed in monads, rarely tetrads (Chylismia sect. Lignothera).

Fruit

a dry capsule, usually dehiscent, sometimes indehiscent.

Capsules

widely spreading, becoming sharply reflexed, clavate, 8–24 mm;

pedicel 8–28 mm.

Seeds

0.8–1.6 mm.

few to numerous, without hairs or wings, [very rarely with asymmetrical dry wing (Xylonagra)], or with dry (Oenothera), erose or smooth wing, or with thick, papillate wings (Chylismiella).

2n

= 14.

Chylismia munzii

Onagraceae tribe Onagreae

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat Mesic slopes, washes.
Elevation 600–1600 m. (2000–5200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[BONAP county map]
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
Discussion

Chylismia munzii is known from middle elevations in the mountains at the north end, eastward from, and south of Death Valley, from Saline Valley and the Grapevine Mountains, Inyo County, California, and Yucca Flat, Nye County, Nevada, southward to the Kingston Range, San Bernardino County, California.P. H. Raven (1962, 1969) determined this species to be self-incompatible. It sometimes hybridizes with C. brevipes subsp. brevipes and C. claviformis subsp. aurantiaca.

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

Genera 13, species 265 (12 genera, 199 species in the flora).

Onagreae account for more than half the total genera in Onagraceae and diversified from a center in southwestern North America (L. Katinas et al. 2004). Delimitation of the tribe by W. L. Wagner et al. (2007) differs from previous ones by the exclusion of Gongylocarpus, now in its own tribe, by the segregation of eight genera (Camissoniopsis, Chylismia, Chylismiella, Eremothera, Eulobus, Neoholmgrenia, Taraxia, and Tetrapteron) from Camissonia, and by the inclusion of three previously separate genera (Calylophus, Gaura, and Stenosiphon) in Oenothera. Within the branch of the family that lacks stipules (Gongylocarpeae, Epilobieae, and Onagreae), the last two tribes form a clade that has very strong molecular support (R. A. Levin et al. 2003, 2004), but no obvious morphological synapomorphy. The clade may be defined by a cytogenetic change from the base chromosome number of x = 11 found in Circaeeae, Gongylocarpeae, and Lopezieae, to x = 18 in Epilobieae, and x = 7 in Onagreae; however, these changes could also have occurred independently. Other than the new chromosome number x = 7, the only apparent morphological synapomorphy for Onagreae alone is pollen with prominent apertural protrusions (J. Praglowski et al. 1987, 1989), a character state also found in Circaeeae (Praglowski et al. 1994). The monophyly of Onagreae has moderate (Levin et al. 2004) to strong support (V. S. Ford and L. D. Gottlieb 2007).

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

Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Chylismia > sect. Chylismia Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae
Sibling taxa
C. arenaria, C. atwoodii, C. brevipes, C. cardiophylla, C. claviformis, C. confertiflora, C. eastwoodiae, C. exilis, C. heterochroma, C. megalantha, C. multijuga, C. parryi, C. scapoidea, C. specicola, C. walkeri
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms Oenothera munzii, Camissonia munzii
Name authority (P. H. Raven) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 207. (2007) Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 89. (1827)
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