Oenothera fruticosa |
Oenothera xylocarpa |
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narrow-leaf evening-primrose |
wood fruit evening primrose, woodyfruit evening primrose |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, moderately to densely strigillose and/or villous, glandular puberulent, or glabrous; from fibrous roots, not or rarely producing rhizomes. | Herbs perennial, acaulescent, densely short-hirsute, also sometimes sparsely long-hirsute distally; from a thick, fleshy taproot. | ||||
Stems | erect to decumbent, branched or unbranched, (10–)30–80 cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, rosette usually withered by anthesis, surfaces sometimes glaucous, especially abaxially, basal 3–12 × 0.5–3 cm, petiole 1–4 cm, blade oblanceolate to obovate, margins subentire, dentate, or denticulate, sometimes undulate; cauline 2–6(–11) × (0.1–)0.5–2(–5) cm, petiole 0.1–2(–6) cm, blade linear, lanceolate to oblanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or ovate, margins subentire or dentate or denticulate, sometimes undulate. |
in a basal rosette, 2.6–4.2(–6.2) × 1.4–4.2 cm; petiole 2.5–9(–11.5) cm; blade usually oblanceolate to obovate, sometimes suborbiculate, margins dentate, pinnately lobed, lateral lobes oblong to lanceolate, often absent or reduced to only a few lobes toward terminal lobe, base rounded to cordate. |
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Inflorescences | usually erect, rarely nodding, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes. |
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Flowers | opening near sunrise; buds with free tips 0.5–8(–13) mm, connivent, sometimes spreading; floral tube 5–20 mm; sepals 5–20 mm; petals pale to bright yellow, fading pale pink, orangish pink, or yellow, (8–)15–25(–30) mm; filaments 5–15 mm, anthers 4–7 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 12–20 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
usually 1–3, rarely more, opening per day near sunset; buds erect, quadrangular, without free tips; floral tube 27–45(–55) mm; sepals 25–30 mm; petals intensely yellow, fading deep salmon red, obcordate, 25–38 mm; filaments 17–23 mm, anthers 7–10 mm; style 44–65(–80) mm, stigma somewhat exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | clavate to oblong-clavate or oblong-ellipsoid, 4-angled to 4-winged, (5–)10–17(–20) × (2–)3–4(–6) mm, stipe 0.1–10 mm; sessile. |
moderately thin and flexible, lanceoloid, falcate or sigmoid, often contorted and twisted, 4-angled, 35–90 × 7–11 mm, gradually tapering to a long, slender, sterile apex, 10–30(–40) mm, valves conspicuously wrinkled, dehiscent 2/3–3/4 their length; sessile. |
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Seeds | 1 × 0.5 mm. |
numerous, in 1 row per locule, often forming 2 rows near base of capsule, obovoid, 2.4–3.2 × 1.3–1.7 mm, surface coarsely rugose. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera fruticosa |
Oenothera xylocarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering Jun–Jul(–Aug). | |||||
Habitat | Open meadows, flats or slopes on loose granitic gravel, sand, or pumice in Pinus jeffreyi forests with Artemisia tridentata, or in Pinus contorta subsp. murrayana and Abies magnifica forests. | |||||
Elevation | 2200–3100 m. (7200–10200 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
e North America; c North America
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CA; NV |
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Discussion | Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora). Oenothera fruticosa as delimited here is a polymorphic species. Previous classification of this group has undergone numerous reorganizations due to the difficulties in separating populations into discrete morphological taxa. In the past it has most frequently been treated as two species, O. fruticosa and O. tetragona Roth, often with a dozen or more infraspecific taxa recognized. The broad delimitation of G. B. Straley (1977) is followed here with one species consisting of two subspecies that appear to intergrade extensively across a wide area of overlap. Straley determined O. fruticosa to be self-incompatible and polyploid. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera xylocarpa is known from three disjunct areas in California and adjacent Nevada: Mount Rose, Washoe County, Nevada; southern Sierra Nevada, southwestern Mono County, California, from the vicinity of Crestview south to Casa Diablo; and the area in the southern Sierra Nevada bounded by Horseshoe and Big Whitney meadows to the east and north, and Casa Vieja and Volcano Meadows to the south and west, west-central Inyo and eastern Tulare counties, California. (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 | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Kneiffia | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Contortae | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Kneiffia fruticosa | Anogra xylocarpa | ||||
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 346. (1753) | Coville: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 4: 105, plate 8. (1893) | ||||
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