Oenothera coloradensis |
Calylophus tubicula(synonym of Oenothera tubicula) |
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Colorado beeblossom |
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Habit | Herbs monocarpic perennial, strigillose proximally, short-hirtellous and strigillose distally, leaves sometimes glabrate; from stout, fleshy taproot. | |
Stems | 1–few-branched from base, 50–80(–100) cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–18 × 1.5–4 cm, blade very narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate; cauline 5–13 × 1–4 cm, blade narrowly elliptic, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, margins subentire or repand-denticulate. |
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Flowers | 4-merous, zygomorphic, opening at sunset; floral tube 8–12 mm; sepals 9.5–13 mm; petals white, fading pink, rhombic-obovate, 7–12 mm; filaments 6.5–9 mm, anthers 2.5–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 19–25 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | ellipsoid or ovoid, sharply 4-angled, with fairly deep furrows alternating with angles, 6–8.5 × 2–3 mm; sessile. |
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Seeds | 1–4, yellowish to light brown, 2–3 × 1 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera coloradensis |
Calylophus tubicula |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | |
Habitat | In wet meadow vegetation of North and South Platte River watersheds on high plains, sloping floodplains, drainage basins in heavy soil. | |
Elevation | 1500–2000 m. (4900–6600 ft.) | |
Distribution |
CO; NE; WY |
sw United States; sc United States; n Mexico |
Discussion | Oenothera coloradensis is currently known from fewer than two dozen populations from southern Laramie and Platte counties in Wyoming, northern Weld County, Colorado, formerly near Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado, and in western Kimball County, Nebraska. It is federally listed as a threatened species in the United States. The primary threats are agricultural use of habitat, herbicide spraying to control weed species, and livestock trampling and grazing (see W. L. Wagner et al. 2013). Recent study by K. N. Krakos (unpubl.) has determined this species to be self-compatible. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) described this species as glandular puberulent in inflorescence, which was repeated in the recent revised taxonomy (Wagner et al.); however, examination of specimens show that P. A. Munz (1965) was correct in describing the pubescence of the inflorescence as non-glandular. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora). H. F. Towner (1977) found that Oenothera tubicula is self-incompatible and diurnal with opening times just prior to sunrise. It occurs primarily on limestone soil in arid lowlands, but occasionally in montane areas, from Guadalupe County, New Mexico, south to western Texas, northeast to Howard County, Texas, and south to northern Zacatecas, south-central Nuevo León, and southwestern Tamaulipas, 600–1800 m. Subspecies strigulosa (Towner) W. L. Wagner & Hoch is known only from rocky, open sites and canyons in relatively montane areas, sometimes in pine forests in southernmost Coahuila, south-central Nuevo León, and southeastern Tamaulipas, from 1500 to 2300 m. It differs in being strigillose on the ovary and distally on stems, leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, and the petals fading red or purple. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaura coloradensis, G. neomexicana subsp. coloradensis, G. neomexicana var. coloradensis | Calylophus tubiculus, Galpinsia tubicula, O. hartwegii var. tubicula |
Name authority | (Rydberg) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 3(5): 71. (1852) |
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