Oenothera kunthiana |
Oenothera fruticosa |
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Kunth's evening-primrose |
narrow-leaf evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs annual, strigillose and also hirsute; from a slender taproot. | Herbs perennial, moderately to densely strigillose and/or villous, glandular puberulent, or glabrous; from fibrous roots, not or rarely producing rhizomes. | ||||
Stems | 5–40 cm. |
erect to decumbent, branched or unbranched, (10–)30–80 cm. |
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Leaves | 1–6 × 0.3–3 cm; petiole 0.1–1.1 cm; blade usually lanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes elliptic, margins weakly serrate to sinuate-pinnatifid. |
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. |
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Inflorescences | usually erect, rarely nodding, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes. |
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Flowers | 1–3 opening per day near sunset; buds with free tips 0–0.5 mm; floral tube 5–31 mm; sepals 10–27 mm; petals white, fading pink, 8–25 mm; filaments 6–12 mm, anthers 3–5 mm, pollen 35–65% fertile; style 12–30 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. |
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. |
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Capsules | broadly clavate or obovoid, 7–31 ×3–5 mm, winged, wings 0.5–1.5 mm, valve surface with prominent midrib, proximal stipe 3–17 mm; sessile. |
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. |
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Seeds | narrowly obovoid, 0.9–1.2 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
1 × 0.5 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera kunthiana |
Oenothera fruticosa |
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Phenology | Flowering Feb–May. | |||||
Habitat | Alluvial flats, open areas, sandy soil, weedy sites. | |||||
Elevation | 10–1300[–2000] m. (0–4300[–6600] ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
TX; Mexico; Central America; n South America [Introduced widely in temperate Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Australia]
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e North America; c North America
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Discussion | Oenothera kunthiana is a PTH species and forms a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous, common and widespread from sea level to middle elevations in the mountains from southern Texas south throughout Mexico except for Baja California and the tropical lowlands southward to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica; it was once collected in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Oenothera kunthiana was recently found to be naturalized in the Hawaiian Islands. Oenothera pinnatifida Kunth is a later homonym of O. pinnatifida Nuttall and another later homonym is O. micrantha Walpers, not Hornemann ex Sprengel (1825); they both pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
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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. Leucocoryne | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Kneiffia | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Synonyms | Hartmannia kunthiana, H. domingensis, H. parviflora, O. domingensis, O. fissifolia, O. walpersii | Kneiffia fruticosa | ||||
Name authority | (Spach) Munz: Amer. J. Bot. 19: 759. (1932) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 346. (1753) | ||||
Web links |