Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera primiveris |
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lizard-tail, small-flower bee-blossom, small-flower gaura, velvet weed |
desert evening primrose, yellow desert evening primrose |
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Habit | Herbs annual, strigillose, glandular puberulent, and long-villous; from heavy taproot, 2–4 cm diam. | Herbs winter-annual, caulescent to short-caulescent, long-hirsute, hairs often with reddish purple pustulate bases, especially proximally, also moderately strigillose, and glandular puberulent distally, often on leaves; from a weakly fleshy taproot. |
Stems | erect, unbranched or many-branched distally, (20–)30–200(–300) cm. |
(when present) unbranched and erect or, sometimes, few branches from near base, in robust plants stems and caudex hollow and greatly enlarged, especially toward base, densely leafy, 5–35 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. |
in a basal rosette, sometimes also cauline, (1.4–)6–15(–28) × (0.2–)1–3.5(–5.6) cm; petiole (0.9–)3.5–8(–14) cm; blade oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, pinnatifid or 2-pinnatifid to shallowly pinnately lobed, margins sinuate-dentate or subentire, apex obtuse. |
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. |
usually 1–4, rarely more, opening per day, 1–2 hours before sunset; sepals (7–)12–25(–30) mm; petals yellow, fading reddish orange to purple, obcordate to obovate, (6–)13–35(–40) mm; filaments 6–16 mm, anthers 3–10 mm; style (32–)40–90(–100) mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers or surrounded by them. |
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. |
woody in age, sigmoid or curved to nearly straight, lanceoloid to ovoid, 4-angled, 10–45(–60) × 4–8 mm, beak 4–15 mm, dehiscent 1/4–2/3 their length; sessile. |
Seeds | 3 or 4, reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm. |
usually numerous, in 2 rows per locule, obovoid to oblanceoloid, 3–3.5 × 1–1.4 mm, surface thickened above raphe and at distal end into U-shaped structure. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera curtiflora |
Oenothera primiveris |
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Phenology | Flowering (Feb–)Apr–Oct. | Flowering Feb–May(–Jun). |
Habitat | Rocky prairie slopes, woodlands, along streams, roadsides, disturbed areas. | Sandy soil on flats, low hills and margins of sand dunes, along arroyos, roadsides, in desert scrub, grasslands and oak-grasslands. |
Elevation | 10–2800 m. (0–9200 ft.) | 30–1600 m. (100–5200 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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AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT; Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Sonora)
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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 primiveris has a complex variation pattern (W. L. Wagner 2005). In the western part of the range from southeastern California across southern Nevada to southern Utah counties of Emery, Kane, and Washington, and northwestern Mohave County, Arizona, plants generally have a gray appearance, with dense pubescence and larger flowers with widespread self-compatibility, but with scattered populations retaining self-incompatibility. Populations from southof the Mogollon Plateau to southern New Mexico, western Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California, Mexico, are greener in appearance with smaller to much smaller flowers, and are all self-compatible with occasional outcrossing or complete autogamy. The transitions between these two extremes are so extensive and more or less gradual that it is not possible to subdivide into two subspecies as has been done previously (Wagner). (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. Eremia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaura parviflora, G. australis, G. hirsuta, G. micrantha, G. parviflora var. lachnocarpa, Schizocarya micrantha | Lavauxia lobata, L. primiveris, O. bufonis, O. cespitosa var. primiveris, O. johnsonii, O. primiveris subsp. bufonis, O. primiveris var. bufonis, O. primiveris subsp. caulescens, O. primiveris var. caulescens, Pachylophus johnsonii |
Name authority | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) | A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 5(6): 58. (1853) |
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