Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera kunthiana |
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lizard-tail, small-flower bee-blossom, small-flower gaura, velvet weed |
Kunth's evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs annual, strigillose, glandular puberulent, and long-villous; from heavy taproot, 2–4 cm diam. | Herbs annual, strigillose and also hirsute; from a slender taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or many-branched distally, (20–)30–200(–300) cm. |
5–40 cm. |
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. |
1–6 × 0.3–3 cm; petiole 0.1–1.1 cm; blade usually lanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes elliptic, margins weakly serrate to sinuate-pinnatifid. |
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. |
1–3 opening per day near sunset; buds with free tips 0–0.5 mm; floral tube 5–31 mm; sepals 10–27 mm; petals white, fading pink, 8–25 mm; filaments 6–12 mm, anthers 3–5 mm, pollen 35–65% fertile; style 12–30 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. |
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. |
broadly clavate or obovoid, 7–31 ×3–5 mm, winged, wings 0.5–1.5 mm, valve surface with prominent midrib, proximal stipe 3–17 mm; sessile. |
Seeds | 3 or 4, reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm. |
narrowly obovoid, 0.9–1.2 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera kunthiana |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Apr–Oct. | Flowering Feb–May. |
Habitat | Rocky prairie slopes, woodlands, along streams, roadsides, disturbed areas. | Alluvial flats, open areas, sandy soil, weedy sites. |
Elevation | 10–2800 m. (0–9200 ft.) | 10–1300[–2000] m. (0–4300[–6600] 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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TX; Mexico; Central America; n South America [Introduced widely in temperate Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Australia]
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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.) |
Oenothera kunthiana is a PTH species and forms a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous, common and widespread from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains from southern Texas south throughout Mexico except for Baja California and the tropical lowlands southward to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; it was once collected in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Oenothera kunthiana was recently found to be naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands. Oenothera pinnatifida Kunth is a later homonym of O. pinnatifida Nuttall and another later homonym is O. micrantha Walpers, not Hornemann ex Sprengel (1825); they both pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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. Leucocoryne |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaura parviflora, G. australis, G. hirsuta, G. micrantha, G. parviflora var. lachnocarpa, Schizocarya micrantha | Hartmannia kunthiana, H. domingensis, H. parviflora, O. domingensis, O. fissifolia, O. walpersii |
Name authority | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) | (Spach) Munz: Amer. J. Bot. 19: 759. (1932) |
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