Oenothera cavernae |
Oenothera calcicola |
|
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cave evening-primrose, cavedwelling evening primrose |
Texas beeblossom |
|
Habit | Herbs winter or spring annual, acaulescent or short-caulescent, glandular puberulent, sometimes also sparsely hirsute; from a taproot. | Herbs perennial, clumped, usually sparsely strigillose, rarely glabrate or sparsely villous, hairs erect, sometimes sparsely glandular puberulent distally; from twisted, woody rootstock. |
Stems | (when present) 1–several, ascending, usually unbranched, 2–4 cm. |
erect, branched below and just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, (40–)60–250 cm. |
Leaves | primarily in a basal rosette, sometimes also cauline, (0.5–)2.5–13(–19.5) × (0.2–)0.6–2.3(–2.7) cm; petiole 0.5–5.2 cm; blade oblanceolate to elliptic-oblanceolate (in some exceptionally large leaves), margins lyrate-pinnatifid to subentire (in very small ones), apex usually rounded, rarely acute. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 3–13 × 0.6–2.5 cm, blade spatulate to oblanceolate, cauline (1–)2.5–12 × 0.1–1 cm, blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, margins slightly to conspicuously sinuate-dentate. |
Inflorescences | slender. |
|
Flowers | 1–3(–10) per stem opening per day near sunset, without noticeable scent; buds sometimes ± recurved before anthesis; floral tube (20–)30–37(–47) mm; sepals 4.5–12 mm; petals white, fading pale pink, (6.5–)8–20(–25) mm; filaments 5.2–7.5(–12) mm, anthers (1.4–)3–4.5(–6) mm; style (24–)35–45(–56) mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 3–9 mm; sepals 6–12 mm; petals white, fading dark pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic-obovate, 7–11 mm; stamens presented in lower 1/2 of flower, filaments 3–7 mm, anthers 2.5–5 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 9.5–19 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | falcate (especially before maturity), ellipsoid-ovoid to ovoid, obtusely 4-angled, 12–38 × 6–14 mm, tapering to a sterile beak 2–8 mm, dehiscent to 1/2 their length, valve margins with a sinuate ridge or 8–20 nearly distinct tubercles; pedicel 0–10 mm. |
lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid, narrowly 4-winged, 7–12 × 1.5–2.5 mm, tapered to a sterile stipe 2–5 mm. |
Seeds | usually numerous, sometimes as few as 5, in 2 adjacent rows per locule, obovoid, 2.5–3.1 × 1.1–1.4 mm, embryo 1/2 of seed volume, surface minutely papillose to reticulate; seed collar without membrane, producing a large empty cavity, margin irregularly sinuate. |
(2 or)3 or 4(or 5), light brown or reddish brown, 1.5–2.5 × 0.8–1.3 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera cavernae |
Oenothera calcicola |
|
Phenology | Flowering Mar–May. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Exposed calcareous slopes, crevices in limestone, dolomite, or loose talus, sandy arroyos, sandstone, granitic crevices, volcanic cinders in Mojave Desert or Great Basin scrub communities, rarely in arid juniper woodlands. | Dry limestone, gypsum, or caliche soil, slopes. |
Elevation | 400–1700 m. (1300–5600 ft.) | 400–1800(–2100) m. (1300–5900(–6900) ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV |
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas) |
Discussion | Oenothera cavernae is known from the Arrow Canyon, Las Vegas, and Sheep ranges and the low hills near Arden and Sloan in Clark County, Nevada, eastward along the Grand Canyon to the vicinity of Page, Arizona, and perhaps Washington County, Utah and formerly in Glenn Canyon, and more recently collected in eastern San Bernardino County, California (eastern Clark Mountain Range, and the base of range in Ivanpah Valley). W. L. Wagner et al. (1985) determined O. cavernae to be self-compatible and autogamous. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera calcicola occurs at mostly higher elevations and more montane areas than other species of subsect. Stipogaura, from the southern Trans-Pecos and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas southward into northern Mexico. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. calcicola to be self-incompatible. It is known to form hybrids with O. suffrutescens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaura calcicola | |
Name authority | Munz: Leafl. W. Bot. 3: 50. (1941) | (P. H. Raven & D. P. Gregory) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) |
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