Oenothera canescens |
Oenothera texensis |
|
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beakpod evening primrose, spotted evening-primrose |
Texas evening primrose |
|
Habit | Herbs low, forming clumps 10–50 cm diam., densely strigillose throughout; from a taproot, lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | Herbs perennial, caulescent, strigillose and also sparsely hirsute; from slender taproot. |
Stems | many-branched from base, leafy, (10–)15–25(–38) cm. |
several–many, ascending, unbranched or branched, 25–50 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 (1–)2.5–6.5 × 0.6–2.3 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate or ovate, margins weakly serrulate to sinuate-pinnatifid; cauline 1–5.5 × 0.6–2 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, margins weakly serrulate. |
Inflorescences | erect. |
|
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. |
1–3 opening per day near sunrise; buds with free tips 0–1 mm; floral tube 15–26 mm; sepals 15–23 mm; petals rose purple, fading darker, 12–25(–30) mm; filaments 9–13 mm, anthers 3.5–6mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 26–36 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. |
clavate or narrowly obovoid, 9–15 × 3.5–6 mm, apex attenuate to a sterile beak, valve midrib prominent in distal part, proximal stipe 7–12(–28) mm, gradually taperingto base; sessile. |
Seeds | asymmetrically cuneiform or oblanceoloid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
narrowly obovoid, 0.8–1 × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera canescens |
Oenothera texensis |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Aug. | Flowering May–Sep. |
Habitat | Prairie depressions, playas, margins of ditches, temporary wet areas. | Sandy and gravel bars of streambeds and along streams. |
Elevation | (400–)700–1800 m. ((1300–)2300–5900 ft.) | 900–2500 m. (3000–8200 ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; TX; WY
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas) |
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.) |
In the flora area, Oenothera texensis is known only from Jeff Davis County. (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 | |
Name authority | Torrey & Frémont in J. C. Fremont: Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 315. (1845) | P. H. Raven & D. R. Parnell: Madroño 20: 247. (1970) |
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