Oenothera elata |
Oenothera arida |
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evening primrose, Hooker's evening-primrose, western evening primrose |
trans-Pecos beeblossom |
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Habit | Herbs biennial or short-lived perennial, densely strigillose and either sparsely or moderately villous, with appressed or spreading hairs (sometimes with red-pustulate bases), distally sometimes also glandular puberulent. | Herbs perennial, clumped, strigillose and glandular puberulent throughout, also sparsely villous; from stout roots. | ||||
Stems | erect, green, flushed with red proximally or red throughout, unbranched or branches obliquely arising from rosette and secondary branches arising from main stem, 30–250 cm. |
erect, usually branched several cm belowground or from near base, sometimes also branched distally, 20–60(–100) cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 10–43 × 1.2–4(–6) cm, cauline 4–25 × 1–2.5(–4) cm; blade dull green to grayish green, rarely red, narrowly oblanceolate or oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly lanceolate, margins usually flat, rarely undulate, bluntly dentate or subentire, teeth sometimes widely spaced, proximal blades sometimes sinuate-dentate toward base; bracts persistent. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 2–4 × 0.4–0.8 cm, petiole0–0.4 cm, blade narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly spatulate; cauline 0.5–5 × 0.1–0.8 cm, petiole 0–0.3 cm, blade narrowly lanceolate or very narrowly elliptic, margins subentire or sinuate-denticulate. |
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Inflorescences | erect, unbranched. |
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Flowers | opening near sunset; buds erect, 6–10 mm diam., with free tips terminal, erect, 1–7 mm; floral tube (20–)30–45(–50) mm; sepals yellowish green, red-striped or strongly flushed with red, 27–50 mm; petals yellow to pale yellow, fading orange or pale yellow, very broadly obcordate, (25–)30–47(–55) mm; filaments 17–25 mm, anthers 8–23 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 50–90 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, nearly actinomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 9–13 mm; sepals 7–9 mm; petals white, fading pink to pale red, slightly unequal, rhombic, 7–8 mm, short-clawed; filaments 3–4 mm, anthers 4–5 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 18–22 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | erect or slightly spreading, dull green or gray-green when dry, narrowly lanceoloid, 20–65 × 4–7 mm, free tips of valves 0.5–2.5 mm. |
erect, fusiform, often slightly curved, weakly 4-angled, (9–)13–17 × 2–3 mm, valves with inconspicuous raised midrib; sessile. |
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Seeds | 1–1.9 × 0.6–1.2 mm. |
(1–)3 or 4, yellowish or light brown, 2–3.5 × 1–2 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera elata |
Oenothera arida |
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Phenology | Flowering Apr–Aug. | |||||
Habitat | Sandy flats and washes. | |||||
Elevation | 1300–1800 m. (4300–5900 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
w United States; c United States; Mexico; Central America
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TX; Mexico (Chihuahua) |
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Discussion | Subspecies 3 (2 in the flora). Subspecies elata differs in anthers 7–12 mm, fewer or no pustulate-based hairs, and generally smaller flowers and habit. It ranges from the highlands of central Mexico, including Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México, Michoacán, Puebla, Querétaro, and Veracruz, south to Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama. Oenothera elata has plastome I and a AA genome composition. Onagra kunthiana Spach is a superfluous name that pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera arida is known only from several areas in the foothills of the Davis Mountains in eastern Jeff Davis County, northeastern Presidio County, and northern Brewster County, and from areas near Gallego and Chihuahua in Chihuahua, Mexico. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. arida to be self-incompatible. (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 | ||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Gaura macrocarpa | |||||
Name authority | Kunth in A. von Humboldt et al.: Nov. Gen. Sp. 6(fol.): 72; 6(qto.): 90. (1823) | W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) | ||||
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