Flora of North America species comparison

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Oenothera laciniata

cut-leaf evening-primrose, southern evening primrose
Habit Herbs annual, sparsely to moderately strigillose, sometimes also villous, sometimes also becoming glandular puberulent distally.
Stems

erect to ascending, unbranched to much branched, 5–50 cm.
Leaves

in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–15 × 1–3 cm, cauline 2–10 × 0.5–3.5 cm;

blade green, narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong, margins usually dentate or deeply lobed;

bracts spreading, flat.
Flowers

usually 1 opening per day near sunset;

buds erect, with free tips erect, 0.3–3 mm;

floral tube 12–35 mm;

sepals 5–15 mm;

petals yellow, fading orange or reddish tinged, broadly obovate or obcordate, 5–22 mm;

filaments 3–14 mm, anthers 4–5 mm, pollen ca. 50% fertile;

style 20–50 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis.
Capsules

cylindrical, sometimes slightly enlarged toward apex, 20–50 × 2–4 mm.
Seeds

ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.9–1.8 × 0.4–0.9 mm.
2n

= 14.

Oenothera laciniata
Phenology Flowering (Feb–)Apr–Sep(–Oct).
Habitat introduced nearly worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas..
Elevation 0–1000(–1300) m. (0–3300(–4300) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CA; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; ND; NE; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; WY [Introduced nearly worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Oenothera laciniata is a PTH species and forms aring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous (W. Dietrich and W. L. Wagner 1988).

Oenothera laciniata is known in New Mexico from Doña Ana and Roosevelt counties from non-montane habitats and thus do not appear to represent O. pubescens; however, a few collections from Brewster and Jeff Davis counties, Texas, reported by W. Dietrich and W. L. Wagner (1988) as O. laciniata appear to represent collections of O. pubescens. Dietrich and Wagner found that O. laciniata hybridizes not only with O. grandis, but also with O. drummondii subsp. drummondii, O. humifusa, and O. mexicana. It is naturalized nearly worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Oenothera > subsect. Raimannia
Sibling taxa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. brachycarpa, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. canescens, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. dodgeniana, O. drummondii, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
Synonyms O. minima, O. repanda, O. sinuata, O. sinuata var. minima, Onagra sinuata, Raimannia laciniata
Name authority Hill: Veg. Syst. 12(app.): 64, plate 10. (1767)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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