Oenothera rosea
Oenothera biennis
pink evening primrose, rose evening-primrose
common evening-primrose, eastern evening primrose, evening star, King's-cureall, small flower evening primrose
1–several, ascending to decumbent, 7–65 cm.
erect, green or flushed with red on proximal parts, sometimes inflorescence axis red, unbranched or with side branches obliquely arising from rosette or stem, 30–200 cm.
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 1–6 × 0.3–2 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic or ovate, margins subentire, weakly serrulate, or sinuate-pinnatifid;
cauline 1–6 × 0.3–2 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, margins subentire or weakly serrulate, proximal ones sinuate-pinnatifid.
in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 10–30 × 2–5 cm, cauline 5–22 ×(1–)1.5–5(–6) cm;
blade usually green to pale green, narrowly oblanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes narrowly elliptic to elliptic distally, margins usually flat, rarely undulate, bluntly dentate, teeth widely spaced, sometimes sinuate-dentate proximally or lobed;
bracts persistent.
erect.
erect, unbranched or with secondary branches just proximal to main one, internodes in fruit usually shorter than capsule.
1–3 opening per day near sunrise;
buds with free tips 0.1–1 mm;
floral tube 4–8 mm;
sepals 6–12 mm;
petals rose purple, fading darker, 4–12 mm;
filaments 4–6 mm, anthers 2–3.5 mm, pollen 35–65% fertile;
style 7–13.5 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis.
opening near sunset;
buds erect, 3.5–6 mm diam., with free tips terminal, erect or spreading, 1.5–3 mm;
floral tube (20–)25–40 mm;
sepals yellowish green, rarely flushed with red or red-striped, 12–22(–28) mm;
petals yellow to pale yellow, fading yellowish white and somewhat translucent, very broadly obcordate, 12–25(–30) mm;
filaments 8–15(–20) mm, anthers 3–6(–9) mm, pollen 50% fertile;
style 30–55 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis.
narrowly obovoid, 4–12 × 2–4 mm, apex attenuate to a sterile beak, proximal stipe 5–20 mm, gradually tapering to base, valve midrib prominent in distal part;
sessile.
erect or slightly spreading, dull green when dry, lanceoloid, 20–40 × 4–6 mm, free tips of valves 0.8–1.5 mm.
narrowly obovoid, 0.5–0.9 × 0.3–0.5 mm.
1–1.2 × 0.6–1.1 mm.
= 14.
= 14.
Oenothera rosea
Oenothera biennis
Oenothera rosea is a PTH species, forming a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous. In the flora area, it is known from Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties in Arizona, Alameda, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara counties in California (primarily in urban areas), and from southern Texas. It is clearly of North American origin, since all of its close relatives are confined to North America, and has spread south along the Andes. It occurs at 500–3700 m in South America but generally at lower elevations in most areas.
The name Hartmannia affinis Spach is illegitimate, being based on Oenothera virgata; H. gauroides Spach is also illegitimate, being based on O. rosea; O. purpurea Lamarck is a later homonym; these three names pertain here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Oenothera biennis is a PTH species and usually forms a ring of 14 chromosomes or a ring of 12 and 1 bivalent in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous (W. Dietrich et al. 1997). It has plastome II and a BA or AB genome composition across different populations.
W. Dietrich et al. (1997) found that in the western half of the United States, where Oenothera biennis is most likely introduced, there are distinctive series of forms that seemed similar to a phenotype of O. biennis that originated in Europe. The most distinctive morphological characters of this western form are the densely villous stems with pustulate hairs and the intense, often dark red color of the stems and sepals, characters which are not typical for the eastern North America forms of O. biennis. The pustulate pubescence of this form is also a characteristic feature of many O. elata and O. villosa subsp. strigosa forms, suggesting possible past hybridization with them. Crossing studies confirm that one of these taxa was most likely involved, and these studies showed that, like O. biennis, they are all AB and BA genomic combinations. One of the seemingly odd features of this form is its scattered distribution across a wide expanse of western states. A possible explanation is that perhaps O. biennis spread westward during glacial periods, hybridized with AA taxa (O. elata and O. villosa subsp. strigosa), followed by compression during warming periods since. A hypothesis of repeated recent hybridization does not seem likely since more typical eastern forms of O. biennis are not present throughout much of the western states. Oenothera biennis hybridizes with the other species of subsect. Oenothera with which it comes in contact, includingO. grandiflora, O. nutans, O. oakesiana, O. parviflora, O. villosa subsp. strigosa, and O. villosa subsp. villosa.
Oenothera biennis subsp. rubricaulis (Klebahn) Stomps is a later homonym that pertains here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
Go Botany, 
IL Wildflowers, 
KS Wildflowers, 
LA Plants, 
MD Biodiversity, 
MI Flora, 
MN Wildflowers, 
MO Plants, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
