Oenothera rosea |
Oenothera macrocarpa |
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pink evening primrose, rose evening-primrose |
bigfruit evening primrose, Missouri evening primrose, Ozark sundrop |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, caulescent, strigillose and often also sparsely hirsute; from slender taproot. | Herbs caulescent, strigillose or glabrous, sometimes glandular puberulent distally; from a stout taproot, sometimes lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. | ||||||||||||||||
Stems | 1–several, ascending to decumbent, 7–65 cm. |
moderately leafy, (1–)4–40(–60) cm. |
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Leaves | 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. |
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). |
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Inflorescences | erect. |
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Flowers | 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. |
usually 1 or 2, rarely more, opening per day near sunset, fading next morning, sometimes (subspp. |
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Capsules | 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. |
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. |
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Seeds | narrowly obovoid, 0.5–0.9 × 0.3–0.5 mm. |
numerous, rarely as few as 8, in 1 row per locule, obovoid, (2–)3–5 × 1–2.3 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 rosea |
Oenothera macrocarpa |
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Phenology | Flowering Mar–Sep. | |||||||||||||||||
Habitat | tropical areas.. | |||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 10–600 m. (0–2000 ft.) | |||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; TX; Mexico; Central America; West Indies; tropical areas [Introduced in South America (Argentina), Europe, Asia, s Africa, Atlantic Islands (Azores, Canary Islands)]
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c United States; n Mexico; s United States
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Discussion | 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.) |
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.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. | ||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | ||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Gaura epilobia, Godetia heuckii, Hartmannia rosea, H. rosea var. parvifolia, H. virgata, O. psycrophila, O. rosea var. parvifolia, O. rubra, O. virgata, Xylopleurum roseum | Megapterium macrocarpum, M. nuttallianum | ||||||||||||||||
Name authority | L’Héritier ex Aiton: Hort. Kew. 2: 3. (1789) | Nuttall: Cat. Pl. Upper Louisiana, no. 56. (1813) | ||||||||||||||||
Web links |