Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera californica |
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lizard-tail, small-flower bee-blossom, small-flower gaura, velvet weed |
California evening primrose |
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Habit | Herbs annual, strigillose, glandular puberulent, and long-villous; from heavy taproot, 2–4 cm diam. | Herbs perennial, densely strigillose, sometimes also villous, or glabrous; from a taproot, lateral roots producing adventitious shoots, or rarely with fleshy underground horizontal rootstock (subsp. eurekensis). | ||||||||
Stems | erect, unbranched or many-branched distally, (20–)30–200(–300) cm. |
ascending or decumbent, usually branched from near base, sometimes new rosettes forming at branch apex when buried in drifting sand, 10–60 cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–15 × 1.5–3 cm, petiole 0–1.8 cm, blade broadly oblanceolate, margins sinuate-dentate to dentate; cauline 2–13 × 0.5–5 cm, petiole 0–2 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, margins sinuate-dentate to dentate. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, rosette sometimes weakly developed or absent, at least during flowering, 1–13 × 0.5–2 cm; petiole 0–2(–4.5) cm; blade oblong to oblanceolate or spatulate, sometimes rhombic-ovate, margins entire or weakly to conspicuously dentate or pinnatifid. |
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Inflorescences | relatively long, dense. |
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Flowers | 4-merous, nearly actinomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 1.5–5 mm; sepals 2–3.5 mm; petals white, fading pale to dark pink, slightly unequal, oblong-obovate to elliptic-oblanceolate, 1.5–3 mm, abruptly clawed; filaments 1.5–3 mm, anthers 0.5–1 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 3–9 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. |
1–several opening per day near sunset; buds nodding, weakly quadrangular, with free tips 0–0.8 mm; floral tube 20–40 mm; sepals 15–30 mm, not spotted; petals white, fading pink to deep pink, broadly obcordate, 15–35(–40) mm; filaments 10–17 mm, anthers 5–10 mm; style 30–60 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | fusiform, terete, weakly angled in distal 1/3, angles becoming broad and rounded in proximal part, 5–11 × 1.5–3 mm, tapering abruptly toward base; sessile. |
spreading to ascending, woody in age, often curved upward, cylindrical, obtusely 4-angled, tapering slightly from base to apex, 20–80 × 2–3.5 mm; sessile. |
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Seeds | 3 or 4, reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm. |
numerous, in 1 row per locule, olive-brown or yellowish brown to black, sometimes with minute purple dots, obovoid, 1–2.5 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera californica |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Apr–Oct. | |||||||||
Habitat | Rocky prairie slopes, woodlands, along streams, roadsides, disturbed areas. | |||||||||
Elevation | 10–2800 m. (0–9200 ft.) | |||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MN; MO; MT; NE; NM; NV; OK; OR; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; WA; WY; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Zacatecas) [Introduced in South America (Argentina), Asia (China, Japan), Australia]
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w United States; nw Mexico
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Discussion | Oenothera curtiflora is self-compatible and autogamous (P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory 1972[1973]). Sometimes it is apparently a biennial. The species is native to grassland regions and open areas across much of interior North America. The full extent of its indigenous range is not clear and collections from the eastern half of the United States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Tennessee) and California may be more recent introductions. Gaura mollis Nuttall ex Torrey 1827 is an isonym of G. mollis E. James 1822, a suppressed name. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora). Most populations of Oenothera californica are self-incompatible (W. L. Wagner et al. 2007; K. E. Theiss et al. 2010), but some populations of subsp. californica are self-compatible. All chromosome counts indicate that subspp. avita and eurekensis are diploid (2n = 14) and those of subsp. californica are tetraploid (2n = 28). Oenothera californica is polymorphic with subspp. avita and californica being very similar, and differing primarily in ecology, distribution, and relatively minor differences in leaf morphology and ploidy level, while the sand dune-restricted subsp. eurekensis is more distinctive in both morphology and habitat. (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. Gaura > subsect. Schizocarya | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Anogra | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | Gaura parviflora, G. australis, G. hirsuta, G. micrantha, G. parviflora var. lachnocarpa, Schizocarya micrantha | O. albicaulis var. californica, Anogra californica, O. pallida var. californica | ||||||||
Name authority | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) | (S. Watson) S. Watson in W. H. Brewer et al.: Bot. California 1: 223. (1876) | ||||||||
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