Oenothera curtiflora
Onagraceae tribe Onagreae
lizard-tail, small-flower bee-blossom, small-flower gaura, velvet weed
erect, unbranched or many-branched distally, (20–)30–200(–300) cm.
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.
alternate or basal;
stipules absent.
relatively long, dense.
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 actinomorphic, rarely slightly zygomorphic (in Oenothera), (3 or)4-merous;
stamens 2 times as many, or rarely as many, as sepals;
pollen usually shed in monads, rarely tetrads (Chylismia sect. Lignothera).
a dry capsule, usually dehiscent, sometimes indehiscent.
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.
3 or 4, reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm.
few to numerous, without hairs or wings, [very rarely with asymmetrical dry wing (Xylonagra)], or with dry (Oenothera), erose or smooth wing, or with thick, papillate wings (Chylismiella).
= 14.
Oenothera curtiflora
Onagraceae tribe Onagreae
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.)
Genera 13, species 265 (12 genera, 199 species in the flora).
Onagreae account for more than half the total genera in Onagraceae and diversified from a center in southwestern North America (L. Katinas et al. 2004). Delimitation of the tribe by W. L. Wagner et al. (2007) differs from previous ones by the exclusion of Gongylocarpus, now in its own tribe, by the segregation of eight genera (Camissoniopsis, Chylismia, Chylismiella, Eremothera, Eulobus, Neoholmgrenia, Taraxia, and Tetrapteron) from Camissonia, and by the inclusion of three previously separate genera (Calylophus, Gaura, and Stenosiphon) in Oenothera. Within the branch of the family that lacks stipules (Gongylocarpeae, Epilobieae, and Onagreae), the last two tribes form a clade that has very strong molecular support (R. A. Levin et al. 2003, 2004), but no obvious morphological synapomorphy. The clade may be defined by a cytogenetic change from the base chromosome number of x = 11 found in Circaeeae, Gongylocarpeae, and Lopezieae, to x = 18 in Epilobieae, and x = 7 in Onagreae; however, these changes could also have occurred independently. Other than the new chromosome number x = 7, the only apparent morphological synapomorphy for Onagreae alone is pollen with prominent apertural protrusions (J. Praglowski et al. 1987, 1989), a character state also found in Circaeeae (Praglowski et al. 1994). The monophyly of Onagreae has moderate (Levin et al. 2004) to strong support (V. S. Ford and L. D. Gottlieb 2007).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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