Oenothera capillifolia |
Oenothera pilosella |
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meadow evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs perennial (short-lived or, sometimes, suffrutescent) or annual, glabrous or strigillose; from a stout taproot. | Herbs perennial, usually densely to sparsely hirsute, rarely glabrous; from a thickened base, rhizomatous. | ||||
Stems | 1–many, weakly decumbent to ascending or erect, unbranched to moderately branched, (10–)25–80 cm. |
spreading or ascending, unbranched or few-branched distally, 20–80 cm. |
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Leaves | 1–9 × (0.1–)0.3–1 cm, sometimes fascicles of small leaves to 2 cm present in non-flowering axils; petiole 0–0.6 cm; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, often folded lengthwise, usually not much reduced distally, proximalmost leaves sometimes spatulate, base attenuate, margins subentire or serrulate or spinulose-serrate, apex acute. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–8 × 2–5 cm, petiole (0.5–)1–3(–4) cm, blade oblanceolate to ovate, margins entire; cauline 3–10(–13) × 1–2(–4) cm, petiole 0–0.5(–2) cm, blade lanceolate to ovate, abruptly narrowed to base, margins subentire or coarsely dentate. |
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Inflorescences | erect, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes. |
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Flowers | opening at sunrise; buds with free tips 0–4 mm; floral tube 5–20 mm; sepals 4–12 mm, midribs keeled; petals yellow, fading orangish to purplish, 6–25 mm; antisepalous filaments 2–8 mm, antipetalous filaments 1–4 mm, anthers 2–7 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 9–30 mm, stigma sometimes blue-black, discoid to quadrangular, exserted beyond anthers. |
opening near sunrise; buds with free tips 1–3 mm, spreading; floral tube 10–25 mm; sepals 10–20 mm; petals bright yellow, fading pale pink or pale yellow, 15–30 mm; filaments 7–15 mm, anthers 4–8 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 10–20 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | 10–35 × 1–2 mm, hard, dehiscent 1/2 their length, often tardily dehiscent throughout their length. |
usually oblong-clavate to oblong-ellipsoid or ellipsoid, 4-angled or weakly 4-winged, (5–)10–15(–28) × 2–4(–5) mm, stipe (1–)3–5(–9) mm; sessile. |
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Seeds | obovoid, 1–1.8 mm, sharply angled, apex truncate. |
1 × 0.5 mm. |
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2n | = 56. |
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Oenothera capillifolia |
Oenothera pilosella |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jul(–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Open fields, edge of woods, marshes and bottomland prairies, open disturbed sites, ditches, old fields, railroads, roadsides. | |||||
Elevation | 100–600 m. (300–2000 ft.) | |||||
Distribution | c United States; sc United States; n Mexico |
AL; AR; CT; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MO; MS; NH; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). Oenothera capillifolia is self-incompatible (H. F. Towner 1977). Oenothera berlandieri (Spach) Steudel 1841, not D. Dietrich 1840, is superfluous and cannot be used in Oenothera when transferred from Calylophus, and pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera pilosella is widespread in cultivation in gardens and frequently escapes and becomes naturalized; the northern and eastern natural limits of O. pilosella are not clear. According to G. B. Straley (1977) the natural limits are from Wayne County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River and Erie County, New York, for the eastern limits, and Tuscola County, Michigan, and Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, for the northern limits. K. N. Krakos (2014), based on new field studies and phylogenetic data, found that O. pilosella does not form a monophyletic group with plants previously treated by Straley as O. pilosella subsp. sessilis in molecular analyses, and thus is here reinstated as the distinct species O. sessilis. Straley determined that O. pilosella is self-incompatible and an octoploid, one of the few in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||
Parent taxa | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Calylophus > subsect. Calylophus | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Kneiffia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Meriolix capillifolia | Kneiffia fruticosa var. pilosella, K. pilosella, K. pratensis, K. sumstinei, O. fruticosa var. hirsuta, O. fruticosa var. pilosella, O. pratensis | ||||
Name authority | Scheele: Linnaea 21: 576. (1848) | Rafinesque: Ann. Nat. 1: 15. (1820) | ||||
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