Oenothera primiveris
Oenothera sinuosa
desert evening primrose, yellow desert evening primrose
wavy-leaf gaura, wavyleaf beeblossom
(when present) unbranched and erect or, sometimes, few branches from near base, in robust plants stems and caudex hollow and greatly enlarged, especially toward base, densely leafy, 5–35 cm.
erect, branched below and just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, 40–120(–250) cm.
in a basal rosette, sometimes also cauline, (1.4–)6–15(–28) × (0.2–)1–3.5(–5.6) cm;
petiole (0.9–)3.5–8(–14) cm;
blade oblanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, pinnatifid or 2-pinnatifid to shallowly pinnately lobed, margins sinuate-dentate or subentire, apex obtuse.
in a basal rosette and cauline, (1–)3–11 × (0.1–)0.5–2 cm, blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, margins usually sparsely sinuate-dentate, rarely subentire, often undulate.
stout.
usually 1–4, rarely more, opening per day, 1–2 hours before sunset;
sepals (7–)12–25(–30) mm;
petals yellow, fading reddish orange to purple, obcordate to obovate, (6–)13–35(–40) mm;
filaments 6–16 mm, anthers 3–10 mm;
style (32–)40–90(–100) mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers or surrounded by them.
4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset;
floral tube 2.5–5 mm;
sepals 7–14 mm;
petals white, fading pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic, 7–15 mm;
stamens presented in lower 1/2 of flower, filaments 5–11 mm, lanate at very base, anthers 3–5 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile;
style 12–19 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.
woody in age, sigmoid or curved to nearly straight, lanceoloid to ovoid, 4-angled, 10–45(–60) × 4–8 mm, beak 4–15 mm, dehiscent 1/4–2/3 their length;
sessile.
narrowly ovoid, narrowly 4-winged or 4-angled, 8–15 × 1.5–3.5 mm, abruptly constricted to a long, sterile stipe 2–8 mm.
usually numerous, in 2 rows per locule, obovoid to oblanceoloid, 3–3.5 × 1–1.4 mm, surface thickened above raphe and at distal end into U-shaped structure.
(1 or)2–4, light to reddish brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm.
= 14.
= 28.
Oenothera primiveris
Oenothera sinuosa
Oenothera primiveris has a complex variation pattern (W. L. Wagner 2005). In the western part of the range from southeastern California across southern Nevada to southern Utah counties of Emery, Kane, and Washington, and northwestern Mohave County, Arizona, plants generally have a gray appearance, with dense pubescence and larger flowers with widespread self-compatibility, but with scattered populations retaining self-incompatibility. Populations from southof the Mogollon Plateau to southern New Mexico, western Texas, Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California, Mexico, are greener in appearance with smaller to much smaller flowers, and are all self-compatible with occasional outcrossing or complete autogamy. The transitions between these two extremes are so extensive and more or less gradual that it is not possible to subdivide into two subspecies as has been done previously (Wagner).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined Oenothera sinuosa to be self-incompatible.
Oenothera sinuosa is endemic to Oklahoma and Texas and is escaped or naturalized in Alabama, Arkansas, California (where found to 1300 m), Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and New York.
Oenothera sinuosa is potentially a noxious weed due to the aggressive rhizomatous habit, but is somewhat limited by its self-incompatibility. Molecular data (G. D. Hoggard et al. 2004) are consistent with the hypothesis that the allotetraploid (2n = 28) O. sinuosa arose by interspecific hybridization of two species within subsect. Stipogaura as suggested by P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]). The molecular data indicate that the pistillate parent came from O. calcicola or a close relative, while the staminate parent originated from the lineage that gave rise to O. cinerea and O. filipes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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