Oenothera canescens |
Oenothera arida |
|
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beakpod evening primrose, spotted evening-primrose |
trans-Pecos beeblossom |
|
Habit | Herbs low, forming clumps 10–50 cm diam., densely strigillose throughout; from a taproot, lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | Herbs perennial, clumped, strigillose and glandular puberulent throughout, also sparsely villous; from stout roots. |
Stems | many-branched from base, leafy, (10–)15–25(–38) cm. |
erect, usually branched several cm belowground or from near base, sometimes also branched distally, 20–60(–100) cm. |
Leaves | cauline, (0.3–)0.6–1.5(–2.5) × (0.05–)0.15–0.4(–0.6) cm, fascicles of small leaves 0.2–0.6 cm often present in non-flowering axils; petiole 0–0.1 cm; blade lanceolate to linear, base cuneate, apex acute. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 2–4 × 0.4–0.8 cm, petiole0–0.4 cm, blade narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly spatulate; cauline 0.5–5 × 0.1–0.8 cm, petiole 0–0.3 cm, blade narrowly lanceolate or very narrowly elliptic, margins subentire or sinuate-denticulate. |
Flowers | several opening per day near sunset; buds usually without free tips, rarely free tips 0.2–0.3 mm; sepals (7–)8–12 mm; petals pink, rarely white, streaked or flecked with red, fading bright purple, (8–)10–17 mm; filaments 6–8 mm, anthers often with red longitudinal stripe, 3–6 mm; style (16–)22–27 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, nearly actinomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 9–13 mm; sepals 7–9 mm; petals white, fading pink to pale red, slightly unequal, rhombic, 7–8 mm, short-clawed; filaments 3–4 mm, anthers 4–5 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 18–22 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | woody, ovoid, narrowly winged, wings 0.8–1.5 mm wide, (7–)9–12(–14) × 2–4 mm (excluding wings), abruptly constricted to a conspicuous, sterile beak, (2–)3–4.5 mm, indehiscent; sessile. |
erect, fusiform, often slightly curved, weakly 4-angled, (9–)13–17 × 2–3 mm, valves with inconspicuous raised midrib; sessile. |
Seeds | asymmetrically cuneiform or oblanceoloid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
(1–)3 or 4, yellowish or light brown, 2–3.5 × 1–2 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera canescens |
Oenothera arida |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Prairie depressions, playas, margins of ditches, temporary wet areas. | Sandy flats and washes. |
Elevation | (400–)700–1800 m. ((1300–)2300–5900 ft.) | 1300–1800 m. (4300–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; TX; WY
|
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
Discussion | Oenothera canescens is restricted to prairie depressions, playas, ditch margins, and other places of temporary water in the High Plains of the western United States from Goshen County, Wyoming, southeast to Hayes County, Nebraska, south through eastern Colorado, the eastern tier of counties in New Mexico, western Kansas, and to Garza and Dawson counties in the Texas Panhandle; also disjunct populations from Chautauqua, Sedgwick, and Stafford counties, Kansas. The illegitimate names Gaurella guttulata (Geyer ex Hooker) Small, G. canescens (Torrey & Frémont) Cockerell, and Gauropsis guttulata (Geyer ex Hooker) Cockerell pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera arida is known only from several areas in the foothills of the Davis Mountains in eastern Jeff Davis County, northeastern Presidio County, and northern Brewster County, and from areas near Gallego and Chihuahua in Chihuahua, Mexico. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. arida to be self-incompatible. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaurella canescens, Megapterium canescens, O. guttulata | Gaura macrocarpa |
Name authority | Torrey & Frémont in J. C. Fremont: Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 315. (1845) | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) |
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