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

beakpod evening primrose, spotted evening-primrose

beach evening-primrose

Habit Herbs low, forming clumps 10–50 cm diam., densely strigillose throughout; from a taproot, lateral roots producing adventitious shoots.
Stems

many-branched from base, leafy, (10–)15–25(–38) 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.

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.

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.

Seeds

asymmetrically cuneiform or oblanceoloid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.4–0.5 mm.

Subspecies

thalassaphila (Brandegee) W.

Dietrich

& W.

l

.

Wagner

differs from subsp. drummondii in a number of modally distinctive morphological features, especially floral tubes 2–3.5 cm, sepal tips 0.3–1 mm, capsules 2–4 cm × 2.5–5 mm in diameter and those, coupled with the great disjunction from the Atlantic coast of the United States and Mexico to the southern tip of Baja California, make it worthy of recognition.

Oenothera

drummondii is self-compatible and outcrossing.

2n

= 14.

Oenothera canescens

Oenothera drummondii

Phenology Flowering May–Aug.
Habitat Prairie depressions, playas, margins of ditches, temporary wet areas.
Elevation (400–)700–1800 m. ((1300–)2300–5900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; TX; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
n Mexico; s United States
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora).

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

Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gauropsis Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Oenothera > subsect. Raimannia
Sibling taxa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. brachycarpa, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. dodgeniana, O. drummondii, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. laciniata, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. brachycarpa, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. canescens, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. dodgeniana, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. laciniata, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
Subordinate taxa
O. drummondii subsp. drummondii
Synonyms Gaurella canescens, Megapterium canescens, O. guttulata Raimannia drummondii
Name authority Torrey & Frémont in J. C. Fremont: Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 315. (1845) Hooker: Bot. Mag. 61: plate 3361. (1834)
Web links