Oenothera howardii |
Oenothera calcicola |
|
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Howard's evening-primrose |
Texas beeblossom |
|
Habit | Herbs acaulescent or sometimes caulescent, moderately to densely strigillose and glandular puberulent, sometimes also sparsely to moderately hirsute; from a taproot, sometimes lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | Herbs perennial, clumped, usually sparsely strigillose, rarely glabrate or sparsely villous, hairs erect, sometimes sparsely glandular puberulent distally; from twisted, woody rootstock. |
Stems | (when present) ascending, longer ones becoming decumbent, leafy, sometimes densely so, 0–10(–30) cm. |
erect, branched below and just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, (40–)60–250 cm. |
Leaves | in a basal rosette, sometimes also cauline, (6–)8.5–17(–23) × (0.5–)1–2(–3) cm; petiole 2–7.5 cm; blade usually oblanceolate, elliptic to narrowly oblong, rarely lanceolate, margins often undulate, entire or remotely and irregularly pinnately lobed mostly in proximal 1/2, rarely more regularly pinnately lobed and lobing extending to distal 1/2, sinuses usually extending less than 1/2 to midrib, lobes triangular to oblong or linear, (1–)4–9(–13) mm, apex acute to obtuse. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 3–13 × 0.6–2.5 cm, blade spatulate to oblanceolate, cauline (1–)2.5–12 × 0.1–1 cm, blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, margins slightly to conspicuously sinuate-dentate. |
Inflorescences | slender. |
|
Flowers | usually 1 or 2, rarely more, opening per day near sunset, strongly and sweetly scented; buds with unequal free tips 1–3(–4) mm; floral tube (43–)60–110(–125) mm; sepals (30–)35–60(–80) mm; petals brilliant yellow, fading deep red, drying deep reddish purple to reddish brown, usually broadly obovate, rarely subrhombic, (30–)40–60(–73) mm, sometimes with a terminal tooth; filaments (19–)25–38 mm, anthers 10–17 mm; style(90–)110–145(–165) mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 3–9 mm; sepals 6–12 mm; petals white, fading dark pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic-obovate, 7–11 mm; stamens presented in lower 1/2 of flower, filaments 3–7 mm, anthers 2.5–5 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 9.5–19 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | leathery, ovoid, narrowly ovoid, or narrowly lanceoloid to broadly ellipsoid, winged, wings (2–)4–7(–11) mm wide, body (20–)25–50(–80) × 4–6 mm, dehiscent 1/4–1/3 their length; pedicel 2–6 mm. |
lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid, narrowly 4-winged, 7–12 × 1.5–2.5 mm, tapered to a sterile stipe 2–5 mm. |
Seeds | numerous, usually in 1 row per locule, rarely in 2 rows toward base, obovoid to subcuboid, 3–8 × 2.5–3.5 mm. |
(2 or)3 or 4(or 5), light brown or reddish brown, 1.5–2.5 × 0.8–1.3 mm. |
2n | = 28, 42, 56. |
= 14. |
Oenothera howardii |
Oenothera calcicola |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jul. | Flowering Apr–May. |
Habitat | Open or rocky areas, in shale, fine-textured sandstones, clays, gypsum, or limestone from High Plains grasslands, open sites in pinyon-juniper woodlands, ponderosa pine-Douglas fir forests. | Dry limestone, gypsum, or caliche soil, slopes. |
Elevation | (1000–)1500–2300(–3000) m. ((3300–)4900–7500(–9800) ft.) | 400–1800(–2100) m. (1300–5900(–6900) ft.) |
Distribution |
CO; KS; NV; UT; WY
|
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas) |
Discussion | Oenotherahowardii is known from three disjunct areas: three collections on the High Plains (Baca and Otero counties, Colorado, and Hamilton County, Kansas); open yucca-juniper grassland, rocky slopes or disturbed areas on shale substrates along the Colorado counties of Boulder, Denver, Jefferson, and Larimer, and just over the state line in Wyoming; and, common to scattered, mostly on rocky slopes but also in shaded canyon sites on fine-textured red sandstones, clays, gypsum, chalky white degraded limestone or limestone in pinyon-juniper woodland to ponderosa pine-Douglas fir forest in southern Utah and eastern Nevada. A. Nelson intended to publish Lavauxia howardii as a new combination and base it on Oenothera howardii M. E. Jones (1893), which was not validly published at the time, but inadvertently published L. howardii as a new species. Oenothera howardii (A. Nelson) W. L. Wagner is an isonym. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera calcicola occurs at mostly higher elevations and more montane areas than other species of subsect. Stipogaura, from the southern Trans-Pecos and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas southward into northern Mexico. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. calcicola to be self-incompatible. It is known to form hybrids with O. suffrutescens. (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. Megapterium | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Stipogaura |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Lavauxiahowardii a. | Gaura calcicola |
Name authority | (A. Nelson) M. E. Jones ex Prain in B. D. Jackson et al.: Index Kew., suppl. 3: 121. (1908) — (as howardi) | (P. H. Raven & D. P. Gregory) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) |
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