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shortfruit evening-primrose

Habit Herbs biennial, villous and strigillose proximally, leaves glabrate or strigillose, also glandular puberulent distally, sometimes also sparsely villous; from stout, fleshy taproot. Herbs acaulescent or sometimes caulescent, strigillose, also hirsute, hairs often with reddish purple pustulate base, glandular puberulent distally; from a woody taproot, sometimes lateral roots producing adventitious shoots.
Stems

1 or few-branched from base, 50–120 cm.

(when present) ascending, longer ones becoming decumbent, usually densely leafy, 0–20(–36) cm.

Leaves

in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 6–20 × 1–3 cm, blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic;

cauline 5–10 × 1–2.5 cm, blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, margins subentire or repand-denticulate.

in a basal rosette, sometimes also cauline, (3.1–)5–21(–34) × (0.3–)1.5–3.5(–5.3) cm;

petiole (0.8–)2.5–11(–15) cm;

blade usually lanceolate to elliptic, rhombic-obovate, sometimes suborbicular or linear, usually irregularly pinnatifid, some sinuses extending nearly to midrib, usually with a large terminal lobe (0.1–)1.5–2(–2.4) cm, margins erose, apex acute to obtuse or rounded.

Flowers

4-merous, zygomorphic, opening at sunset;

floral tube 10–11 mm;

sepals 11–15 mm;

petals white, fading pink, rhombic-obovate, 11–14 mm;

filaments 6.5–9 mm, anthers 2.5–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile;

style 22–28 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers.

usually 1–3, rarely more, opening per day near sunset, weakly scented;

buds with unequal free tips 1–7 mm;

floral tube (90–)120–210(–220) mm;

sepals 38–55 mm;

petals pale yellow to yellow, fading pale orange to pink, drying lavender to purple, usually broadly rhombic-obovate, sometimes obovate, (38–)45–58(–62) mm, distal margin usually erose;

filaments (16–)20–32 mm, anthers (8–)13–21 mm;

style (123–)155–240(–255) mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

Capsules

ellipsoid or ovoid, sharply 4-angled, with deep furrows alternating with angles for 2–3 mm from apex, ribbed from base of furrow to base of fruit, 9–11 × 3–5 mm;

sessile.

leathery or corky, ovoid to narrowly ellipsoid, ± winged, wings 0–3(–5) mm wide, sometimes capsule with corky thickening between wings, then capsule only 4-angled, body (12–)18–40 × 6–10 mm, dehiscent 1/4 their length;

pedicel 0–3 mm.

Seeds

2–4, yellowish to light brown, 2–3 mm.

usually numerous, in 1 or 2 rows per locule, obovoid to subcuboid, 3–5 × 1.8–2.2 mm.

2n

= 14.

= 14.

Oenothera dodgeniana

Oenothera brachycarpa

Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep. Flowering Mar–Aug.
Habitat Mountain meadow openings in coniferous forests. Rocky sites, usually on limestone, shale, or gypsum, on igneous substrates from canyons and slopes in Chihuahuan Desert scrub, grasslands, oak-pine-juniper woodlands, open sites in ponderosa pine-Douglas fir forests.
Elevation 1800–2700 m. (5900–8900 ft.) 1000–2700 m. (3300–8900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CO; NM
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Oenothera dodgeniana occurs in two disjunct areas: the western foothills of the San Juan Mountains in Archuleta and Huerfano counties, Colorado, and Rio Arriba County, New Mexico; and Sierra Blanca and Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln and Otero counties, south-central New Mexico. The species was collected once at Durango, La Plata County, Colorado (P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory 1972[1973]), but has not since been recollected. Oenothera dodgeniana and O. coloradensis were considered by Raven and Gregory to represent a relict species along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains that arose from more widespread species farther to the east, such as O. filiformis. Oenothera dodgeniana belongs to a subclade which is sister to that containing O. coloradensis, and within that subclade is sister to O. demareei and O. lindheimeri (W. L. Wagner et al. 2013). Although O. dodgeniana is fairly closely related to O. coloradensis, the two taxa seem to have had independent origins that have led to distributions along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains. Oenothera dodgeniana is self-compatible (Raven and Gregory).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Oenotherabrachycarpa occurs from southeastern Arizona in southern Navajo, southeastern Pima, Graham, Santa Cruz, and Cochise counties, east across southern New Mexico to Val Verde and Pecos counties in trans-Pecos Texas.

(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. Gaura Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Megapterium
Sibling taxa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. brachycarpa, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. canescens, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. drummondii, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. laciniata, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. canescens, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. dodgeniana, O. drummondii, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. laciniata, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
Synonyms Gaura neomexicana, O. coloradensis subsp. neomexicana Lavauxia brachycarpa, L. graminifolia, L. wrightii, Megapterium brachycarpum, M. brachycarpum var. wrightii, O. australis, O. brachycarpa var. wrightii, O. cespitosa subsp. australis, O. cespitosa var. australis, O. graminifolia, O. wrightii, Pachylophus australis
Name authority Krakos & W. L. Wagner: PhytoKeys 28: 66. (2013) A. Gray: Smithsonian Contr. Knowl. 3(5): 70. (1852)
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