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bigfruit evening primrose

Habit Herbs strigillose and glandular puberulent distally. Herbs (annual or perennial), [shrubs].
Stems

several, unbranched, sometimes with shorter secondary branches, 10–40(–60) cm.

Leaves

green, younger ones grayish green, (6–)8–12(–14.5) × 0.4–2.3(–3) cm;

blade often lanceolate-elliptic to broadly elliptic, sometimes linear or lanceolate, margins usually flat, sometimes undulate, entire or inconspicuously denticulate, apex acute.

alternate or basal;

stipules absent.

Flowers

buds with unequal free tips (4–)8–10(–12) mm;

floral tube (78–)95–115(–140) mm;

sepals (45–)50–65(–75) mm;

petals (40–)50–65(–68) mm;

filaments (25–)30–40(–44) mm, anthers (15–)17–24 mm;

style (120–)135–160(–190) mm.

usually actinomorphic, rarely slightly zygomorphic (in Oenothera), (3 or)4-merous;

stamens 2 times as many, or rarely as many, as sepals;

pollen usually shed in monads, rarely tetrads (Chylismia sect. Lignothera).

Fruit

a dry capsule, usually dehiscent, sometimes indehiscent.

Capsules

ovoid, narrowly ovoid, narrowly lanceoloid to broadly ellipsoid, or subglobose, not twisted, wings (14–)18–34 mm wide, body 52–70(–115) × 7–8 mm.

Seeds

few to numerous, without hairs or wings, [very rarely with asymmetrical dry wing (Xylonagra)], or with dry (Oenothera), erose or smooth wing, or with thick, papillate wings (Chylismiella).

2n

= 14.

Oenothera macrocarpa subsp. macrocarpa

Onagraceae tribe Onagreae

Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun(Sep).
Habitat Rocky, clay, alkaline soil, unglaciated prairies, glades, bluffs, open prairie hillsides, disturbed sites, limestone or dolomite.
Elevation 100–500 m. (300–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AR; IL; KS; MO; NE; OK; TN; TX
[BONAP county map]
North America; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies
Discussion

Subspecies macrocarpa is known from three disjunct areas: southeastern Nebraska, eastern half of Kansas, Craig and Washington counties, Oklahoma, east to Missouri south of the Missouri River and St. Clair County, Illinois, and to the northern tier of counties in Arkansas; glades near Murfreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee; and Blackland Prairies, Cross Timbers and eastern Edwards Plateau, from Bryan, Johnston, and Pontotoc counties, Oklahoma, southwest to Bexar, Coke, Kerr, and McCulloch counties, Texas.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Genera 13, species 265 (12 genera, 199 species in the flora).

Onagreae account for more than half the total genera in Onagraceae and diversified from a center in southwestern North America (L. Katinas et al. 2004). Delimitation of the tribe by W. L. Wagner et al. (2007) differs from previous ones by the exclusion of Gongylocarpus, now in its own tribe, by the segregation of eight genera (Camissoniopsis, Chylismia, Chylismiella, Eremothera, Eulobus, Neoholmgrenia, Taraxia, and Tetrapteron) from Camissonia, and by the inclusion of three previously separate genera (Calylophus, Gaura, and Stenosiphon) in Oenothera. Within the branch of the family that lacks stipules (Gongylocarpeae, Epilobieae, and Onagreae), the last two tribes form a clade that has very strong molecular support (R. A. Levin et al. 2003, 2004), but no obvious morphological synapomorphy. The clade may be defined by a cytogenetic change from the base chromosome number of x = 11 found in Circaeeae, Gongylocarpeae, and Lopezieae, to x = 18 in Epilobieae, and x = 7 in Onagreae; however, these changes could also have occurred independently. Other than the new chromosome number x = 7, the only apparent morphological synapomorphy for Onagreae alone is pollen with prominent apertural protrusions (J. Praglowski et al. 1987, 1989), a character state also found in Circaeeae (Praglowski et al. 1994). The monophyly of Onagreae has moderate (Levin et al. 2004) to strong support (V. S. Ford and L. D. Gottlieb 2007).

(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 > Oenothera macrocarpa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae
Sibling taxa
O. macrocarpa subsp. fremontii, O. macrocarpa subsp. incana, O. macrocarpa subsp. oklahomensis
Subordinate taxa
Synonyms Megapterium missourense, O. macrocarpa var. missourensis, O. missourensis, O. missourensis var. latifolia
Name authority unknown Dumortier: Fl. Belg., 89. (1827)
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