Oenothera humifusa |
Oenothera suffulta |
|
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seabeach evening-primrose |
bee-blossom, kisses, roadside gaura, wild honey-suckle |
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Habit | Herbs annual or short-lived perennial, densely strigillose, sometimes also villous, also becoming glandular puberulent distally. | Herbs annual, sparsely villous proximally, leaves glabrate to sparsely villous along veins and on margins, usually glabrous distally, except sometimes proximal part of inflorescence, especially bracts, sparsely villous; from stout taproot. |
Stems | erect to decumbent, much branched, 10–50(–90) cm. |
usually well-branched, 25–120 cm. |
Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–8 × 0.7–1 cm, cauline 1–7 × 0.3–1.5 cm; blade usually grayish green, narrowly oblong to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, margins remotely shallowly dentate to subentire; bracts spreading, flat. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 7–11 × 0.1–2.3 cm, blade lyrate; cauline 1–9.5 × 0.1–2.3 cm, blade narrowly lanceolate to linear, margins sinuate-dentate, undulate. |
Flowers | usually 1 opening per day near sunset; buds erect, with free tips erect and appressed or slightly spreading, 0.5–2 mm; floral tube 15–35 mm; sepals3–11 mm; petals yellow, very broadly obovate or obcordate, 4.5–16 mm; filaments 4–11 mm, anthers 2–5.5 mm, pollen ca. 50% fertile; style 23–45 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening at sunset; floral tube 6.5–14 mm; sepals 11–21 mm; petals white, fading pink to red or sometimes purple, elliptic-obovate, 10–15 mm; filaments 6–9 mm, anthers 2–6 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 16–32 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | cylindrical, sometimes slightly enlarged toward apex, 15–45 × 2–3 mm. |
ovoid, narrowly 4-winged, furrowed between angles, 4.5–8 × 2–5 mm, abruptly tapering to stipe 0–1 mm; sessile. |
Seeds | usually ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid, rarely subglobose, 1–2 × 0.5–0.9 mm. |
(1 or)2–4(or 5), yellowish to light brown, 2–3 × 1 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera humifusa |
Oenothera suffulta |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–Nov. | Flowering Apr–Aug. |
Habitat | Dunes, open sandy places along or near Atlantic coast. | In open, sandy places. |
Elevation | 0–10 m. (0–0 ft.) | 10–1100 m. (0–3600 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; DE; FL; GA; LA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; PA; SC; VA; Dunes; open sandy places along or near Atlantic coast; West Indies (Cuba); Bermuda
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OK; TX
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Discussion | Oenothera humifusa is a PTH species and forms a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous (W. Dietrich and W. L. Wagner 1988). The inland collection from Iredell County, North Carolina, presumably represents an introduction. There are two geographically separated morphological forms of O. humifusa. Plants of one form are somewhat decumbent, with subentire cauline leaves and bracts; this form occurs in the southern part of the range. The other form is more upright, with more deeply divided leaves; it occurs from North Carolina northward. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera suffulta is more common in western Texas while uncommon elsewhere throughout Texas, and absent in the Trans-Pecos region. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. suffulta to be self-incompatible. (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. Oenothera > subsect. Raimannia | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Gaura |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | O. niveifolia, O. sinuata var. humifusa, Raimannia humifusa | Gaura suffulta |
Name authority | Nuttall: Gen. N. Amer. Pl. 1: 245. (1818) | (Engelmann ex A. Gray) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 214. (2007) |
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