Oenothera macrocarpa |
Oenothera neomexicana |
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bigfruit evening primrose, Missouri evening primrose, Ozark sundrop |
New Mexico evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs caulescent, strigillose or glabrous, sometimes glandular puberulent distally; from a stout taproot, sometimes lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | Herbs perennial, glabrate proximally, strigillose and villous distally; from a taproot, also with lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | moderately leafy, (1–)4–40(–60) cm. |
erect or ascending, unbranched or branched, 30–60 cm. |
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Leaves | cauline, (2.8–)3.7–12.5(–17) × (0.1–)0.4–3(–4.5) cm; petiole (0.4–)1–4(–6) cm; blade linear, lanceolate-elliptic, elliptic to oblanceolate or suborbiculate, margins entire or conspicuously or inconspicuously denticulate or serrulate, sometimes undulate, apex usually acute, sometimes obtuse or retuse (subsp. incana). |
in a basal rosette and cauline, rosette weakly developed or absent, at least during flowering, 3–9 × (0.6–)1–2.5 cm; petiole 0–2 cm; blade oblong to lanceolate or narrowly ovate, margins irregularly sinuate-dentate. |
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Flowers | usually 1 or 2, rarely more, opening per day near sunset, fading next morning, sometimes (subspp. |
1–several opening per day near sunset; buds nodding, weakly quadrangular, with free tips 0.5–4 mm; floral tube 30–50 mm; sepals 20–30 mm, not spotted; petals white, fading pink, broadly obovate, 20–30 mm; filaments 10–15 mm, anthers 8–15 mm; style 50–70 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | papery in age, narrowly ellipsoid to lanceoloid, sometimes twisted (subsp. fremontii), winged, wings (2–)10–28(–34) mm wide, body (13–)25–70(–115) × 2–9 mm, dehiscent 1/4–1/3 their length; pedicel 1–12(–25) mm. |
erect or strongly ascending, not woody, straight or slightly curved, subcylindrical, obtusely 4-angled, tapering gradually from base to apex, 20–30 × 2–3 mm; sessile. |
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Seeds | numerous, rarely as few as 8, in 1 row per locule, obovoid, (2–)3–5 × 1–2.3 mm. |
numerous, in 1 row per locule, dark brown, narrowly obovoid, 1.5 mm. |
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Macrocarpa | and oklahomensis) lasting for 2 days, weakly scented; buds with unequal free tips 1–11(–15) mm; floral tube (21–)35–140(–160) mm; sepals (20–)25–65(–75) mm; petals bright yellow, fading orange, reddish orange or mostly unchanged, obovate to very broadly obovate, (17–)25–65(–68) mm, usually with terminal notch and/or tooth, margin sometimes erose; filaments 13–40(–44) mm, anthers 10–24(–25) mm; style (45–)55–192 mm, stigma usually exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera macrocarpa |
Oenothera neomexicana |
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Phenology | Flowering (Mar–)Jun–Jul(–Sep). | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Uncommon, in rocky or sandy clay or loamy soil in coniferous forest openings, stream valleys, roadsides. | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1500–3300 m. (4900–10800 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
c United States; n Mexico; s United States
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AZ; NM
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Discussion | Subspecies 5 (4 in the flora). Oenotheramacrocarpa is variable and has differentiated extensively in the Great Plains region. Each of the five distinctive subspecies occupies a different geographical and ecological situation. Only subsp. mexicana W. L. Wagner from Coahuila, Mexico, occurs outside of the flora area. In general, the subspecies are sharply distinct and each is characterized by a number of features, including pubescence, leaf features, flower and floral tube size, and size and morphology of the capsules and seeds. The five entities are treated as subspecies primarily because of their complete interfertility and extensive intergradation in any area of marginal contact. Intermediates are known between subsp. macrocarpa and subspp. fremontii and oklahomensis and between subspp. incana and oklahomensis. There is also some evidence that suggests past hybridization between subspp. fremontii and incana although there is no present contact between them. All subspecies are self-incompatible. Oenothera alata Nuttall (1818) is an illegitimate name based on O. macrocarpa and pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera neomexicana is known from central to western New Mexico west of the Rio Grande Valley, except for the Organ Mountains, and eastern and central Arizona from the White Mountains south to Mount Graham and northwestward across the Mogollon Rim in Coconino and Yavapai counties. Oenothera neomexicana had been assumed to be self-incompatible (W. L. Wagner et al. 2007), but K. E. Theiss et al. (2010) determined one population sampled to be consistently self-compatible. (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. Megapterium | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Anogra | ||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
Synonyms | Megapterium macrocarpum, M. nuttallianum | Anogra neomexicana | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Nuttall: Cat. Pl. Upper Louisiana, no. 56. (1813) | (Small) Munz: Amer. J. Bot. 18: 317. (1931) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |