Oenothera pilosella |
Oenothera mckelveyae |
|
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meadow evening-primrose |
Mckelvey's beeblossom |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, usually densely to sparsely hirsute, rarely glabrous; from a thickened base, rhizomatous. | Herbs perennial, clumped, long-villous, more sparsely so distally, hairs erect, 2–4 mm, also strigillose, sometimes glabrate distally or also sparsely glandular puberulent; from twisted, woody rootstock. |
Stems | spreading or ascending, unbranched or few-branched distally, 20–80 cm. |
ascending, branched below or just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, 30–70(–120) cm. |
Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–8 × 2–5 cm, petiole (0.5–)1–3(–4) cm, blade oblanceolate to ovate, margins entire; cauline 3–10(–13) × 1–2(–4) cm, petiole 0–0.5(–2) cm, blade lanceolate to ovate, abruptly narrowed to base, margins subentire or coarsely dentate. |
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 3–17 × 0.8–2 cm, blade oblanceolate, cauline 1–6.5 × 0.1–1.5 cm, sessile, blade narrowly oblanceolate to elliptic, margins conspicuously sinuate-dentate, often undulate. |
Inflorescences | erect, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes. |
slender. |
Flowers | opening near sunrise; buds with free tips 1–3 mm, spreading; floral tube 10–25 mm; sepals 10–20 mm; petals bright yellow, fading pale pink or pale yellow, 15–30 mm; filaments 7–15 mm, anthers 4–8 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 10–20 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 2–3.5 mm; sepals 6–12 mm; petals white, fading dark pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic-obovate, 7–11 mm, long-clawed; stamens presented in lower 1/2 of flower, filaments 5–9 mm, lanate at very base, anthers 2–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 9–16 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | usually oblong-clavate to oblong-ellipsoid or ellipsoid, 4-angled or weakly 4-winged, (5–)10–15(–28) × 2–4(–5) mm, stipe (1–)3–5(–9) mm; sessile. |
reflexed, lanceoloid to narrowly ovoid, narrowly 4-winged, 8–19 × 1.5–2 mm, tapering to a sterile stipe 3–9 mm. |
Seeds | 1 × 0.5 mm. |
(1 or)2–4, 2–3 × 1 mm, yellowish to reddish brown. |
2n | = 56. |
= 14. |
Oenothera pilosella |
Oenothera mckelveyae |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Jul(–Aug). | Flowering Mar–Jun. |
Habitat | Open fields, edge of woods, marshes and bottomland prairies, open disturbed sites, ditches, old fields, railroads, roadsides. | Sandy soil. |
Elevation | 100–600 m. (300–2000 ft.) | 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) |
Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MA; ME; MI; MO; MS; NH; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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TX; Mexico (Nuevo León, Tamaulipas) |
Discussion | Oenothera pilosella is widespread in cultivation in gardens and frequently escapes and becomes naturalized; the northern and eastern natural limits of O. pilosella are not clear. According to G. B. Straley (1977) the natural limits are from Wayne County, West Virginia, along the Ohio River and Erie County, New York, for the eastern limits, and Tuscola County, Michigan, and Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, for the northern limits. K. N. Krakos (2014), based on new field studies and phylogenetic data, found that O. pilosella does not form a monophyletic group with plants previously treated by Straley as O. pilosella subsp. sessilis in molecular analyses, and thus is here reinstated as the distinct species O. sessilis. Straley determined that O. pilosella is self-incompatible and an octoploid, one of the few in the genus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera mckelveyae, on the Rio Grande Plain, is found in an area bounded by from Dimmit and LaSalle counties east to Karnes and Refugio counties in the north, southward through south Texas, extending to northeastern Tamaulipas and adjacent Nuevo León. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) found Oenothera mckelveyae 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. Kneiffia | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Stipogaura |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Kneiffia fruticosa var. pilosella, K. pilosella, K. pratensis, K. sumstinei, O. fruticosa var. hirsuta, O. fruticosa var. pilosella, O. pratensis | Gaura villosa var. mckelveyae, Gaura mckelveyae |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Ann. Nat. 1: 15. (1820) | (Munz) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 213. (2007) |
Web links |