Oenothera cespitosa subsp. crinita |
Oenothera cespitosa subsp. navajoensis |
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cespitose evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs acaulescent or caulescent, densely hirsute, also sparsely glandular puberulent. | Herbs caulescent or acaulescent, moderately to densely crinkly-villous (often appearing shaggy), and glandular puberulent. |
Stems | unbranched to many-branched, and then sometimes producing dense clumps 5–50 cm diam., 2–14 cm. |
(if present) unbranched to few-branched, (0–)10–25 cm. |
Leaves | 1.7–10(–18) × (0.3–)0.5–2.5(–3.4) cm; petiole (0.2–)3–5(–8) cm; blade usually oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, rarely obovate, margins subentire, sinuate, or dentate to pinnatifid. |
(3.5–)4–13(–16) × (0.7–)1–3.2 cm; petiole (1.3–)1.7–10(–12) cm; blade oblanceolate to rhombic-obovate, margins often coarsely and irregularly dentate or serrate, sometimes pinnately lobed, often with several larger lobes near blade base. |
Flowers | floral tube (28–)35–75(–85) mm; sepals (15–)18–25(–27) mm; petals fading rose or sometimes deep rose purple, (16–)20–30(–35) mm; filaments (6–)10–17(–20) mm, anthers 6–8(–10) mm; style (45–)60–90(–105) mm. |
buds often recurved when young; floral tube (35–)40–70(–80) mm; sepals 22–27(–32) mm; petals fading pink to light rose, (25–)28–32(–34) mm; filaments 11–15(–17) mm, anthers 9–12 mm; style (50–)59–85(–96) mm. |
Capsules | usually falcate or sigmoid, especially when young, also somewhat flattened, ellipsoid-ovoid to lanceoloid, 10–31(–34) × 4–9 mm, valve margins with 8–15 tubercles or these coalesced into a sinuate ridge; pedicel 0.5–1 mm. |
straight, oblong-lanceoloid, base asymmetrical, 13–35(–40) × 5–6 mm; valve margins with a low sinuate ridge to 8–15 small, nearly distinct tubercles; pedicel 1–3 mm. |
Seeds | obovoid, oblong, or ± triangular, 2.9–3.5 × 1.1–2 mm, embryo 1/2–2/3 of seed volume, surface papillose, reticulate or very minutely roughened; seed collar membrane depressed and often splitting, becoming separated from collar at maturity, margin conspicuously sinuate throughout, surface often ribbed, ribs forming partial or complete vertical partitions in collar. |
narrowly obovoid, 2.1–2.6 × 1.1–1.3 mm, embryo 1/2 of seed volume, surface minutely papillose; seed collar forming a narrow slit above raphe with a slightly sunken membrane, margin entire or obscurely sinuate distally. |
2n | = 14, 28. |
= 14, 28. |
Oenothera cespitosa subsp. crinita |
Oenothera cespitosa subsp. navajoensis |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Jul. | Flowering (Apr–)May–Jun. |
Habitat | Open sites, compacted or loose soil derived from dolomite, limestone, tufa, or marble, exposed knolls, gravelly benches, steep slopes, scree, rocky mesas, rocky arroyos, from mountain summits in alpine or subalpine communities with Pinus longaeva and P. flexilis or pinyon-juniper woodlands to Great Basin or Mojave Desert shrub communities dominated by Artemisia, Atriplex confertifolia, Coleogyne, Hilaria, Lycium. | Colorado Plateau region, forming small colonies on loose or compacted soil derived from clay, shale, fine-textured sandstone, or gypsum, on slopes and along small drainage patterns, often around harvester ant mounds, arroyos in somewhat sandy or gravelly soil, in shrubby communities dominated by Atriplex confertifolia, A. corrugata, A. cuneata, Artemisia spinescens, Coleogyne ramosissima, Frankenia jamesii, Hilaria jamesii, with big sagebrush scrub or sage-grasslands, rarely in lower pinyon-juniper woodlands. |
Elevation | 1100–3400 m. (3600–11200 ft.) | 1100–1900(–2100) m. (3600–6200(–6900) ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; NV; UT |
AZ; CO; NM; UT |
Discussion | Subspecies crinita is the most polymorphic subspecies of Oenothera cespitosa; it is also the least understood. W. L. Wagner et al. (1985) grouped two series of populations that appear to intergrade together within the limits of this subspecies. One population is a morphologically relatively uniform form characterized by a many-branched habit, which may form dense clumps to 50 cm diameter, leaves that are 2–7 cm, floral tubes 25–60 mm and petals that fade to a rose color, and it occurs at high elevations on rocky, limestone sites or at lower elevations on extreme, chalky, white limestone and dolomite substrates or sometimes scree slopes. A more common form occurs at low to mid elevations in pinyon-juniper woodlands to Great Basin or Mojave Desert scrub on rocky slopes, talus, or along arroyos that is much less compact with one to several clustered rosettes, rarely more, with leaves 8–16 cm, floral tubes 45–75 mm, and petals that fade rose purple. The common form also grows on limestone and dolomite but, unlike the clumped form, it does not seem to be restricted to it. To compound the problem, many foothill and valley populations of subsp. crinita intergrade extensively with subspp. cespitosa and marginata. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Pachylophus crinitus, O. cespitosa var. crinita, O. cespitosa subsp. jonesii, O. cespitosa var. jonesii, O. cespitosa var. stellae | O. cespitosa var. navajoensis, Pachylophus caulescens |
Name authority | (Rydberg) Munz in N. L. Britton et al.: N. Amer. Fl., ser. 2, 5: 100. (1965) — (as caespitosa) | W. L. Wagner, Stockhouse & W. M. Klein: Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 12: 66, fig. 104. (1985) — (as caespitosa) |
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