Oenothera capillifolia |
Oenothera sinuosa |
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wavy-leaf gaura, wavyleaf beeblossom |
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Habit | Herbs perennial (short-lived or, sometimes, suffrutescent) or annual, glabrous or strigillose; from a stout taproot. | Herbs perennial, usually glabrous, sometimes strigillose and villous, hairs erect; from a woody taproot but spreading by rhizomes (forming extensive colonies). | ||||
Stems | 1–many, weakly decumbent to ascending or erect, unbranched to moderately branched, (10–)25–80 cm. |
erect, branched below and just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, 40–120(–250) 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, (1–)3–11 × (0.1–)0.5–2 cm, blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, margins usually sparsely sinuate-dentate, rarely subentire, often undulate. |
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Inflorescences | stout. |
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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. |
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 2.5–5 mm; sepals 7–14 mm; petals white, fading pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic, 7–15 mm; stamens presented in lower 1/2 of flower, filaments 5–11 mm, lanate at very base, anthers 3–5 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 12–19 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. |
narrowly ovoid, narrowly 4-winged or 4-angled, 8–15 × 1.5–3.5 mm, abruptly constricted to a long, sterile stipe 2–8 mm. |
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Seeds | obovoid, 1–1.8 mm, sharply angled, apex truncate. |
(1 or)2–4, light to reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm. |
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2n | = 28. |
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Oenothera capillifolia |
Oenothera sinuosa |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Flats and washes in light sandy loam. | |||||
Elevation | 0–300(–1300) m. (0–1000(–4300) ft.) | |||||
Distribution | c United States; sc United States; n Mexico |
AL; AR; CA; FL; GA; MO; NY; OK; TX [Introduced in Europe (Italy), s Africa]
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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.) |
P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined Oenothera sinuosa to be self-incompatible. Oenothera sinuosa is endemic to Oklahoma and Texas and is escaped or naturalized in Alabama, Arkansas, California (where found to 1300 m), Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and New York. Oenothera sinuosa is potentially a noxious weed due to the aggressive rhizomatous habit, but is somewhat limited by its self-incompatibility. Molecular data (G. D. Hoggard et al. 2004) are consistent with the hypothesis that the allotetraploid (2n = 28) O. sinuosa arose by interspecific hybridization of two species within subsect. Stipogaura as suggested by P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]). The molecular data indicate that the pistillate parent came from O. calcicola or a close relative, while the staminate parent originated from the lineage that gave rise to O. cinerea and O. filipes. (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. Gaura > subsect. Stipogaura | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Meriolix capillifolia | Gaura sinuata | ||||
Name authority | Scheele: Linnaea 21: 576. (1848) | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 214. (2007) | ||||
Web links |