Oenothera sessilis |
Oenothera tetraptera |
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fourwing evening-primrose |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, densely strigillose, glabrate proximally; from fibrous roots. | Herbs annual or perennial, strigillose and also hirsute; from a slender taproot. |
Stems | ascending, unbranched to few-branched, 30–65 cm. |
15–50 cm. |
Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 2.5–7 ×0.7–2.3 cm, petiole 1–1.5 cm, blade oblanceolate, margins subentire, undulate; cauline (3–)6–7(–9) ×(0.3–)0.6–0.8(–1.1) cm, sessile, blade lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, margins subentire. |
2.5–10 × 0.6–2.5 cm; petiole 0.2–2.2 cm; blade usually lanceolate to oblanceolate, sometimes elliptic, margins weakly serrate to sinuate-pinnatifid. |
Inflorescences | nodding, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes. |
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Flowers | opening near sunrise; buds with free tips 1–2 mm, connivent to spreading; floral tube 10–15(–20) mm; sepals 10–18 mm; petals bright yellow, fading pale pink, 15–25 mm; filaments 7–9 mm, anthers 5–8 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 10–12 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
1–3 opening per day near sunset; buds with free tips 0.5–3 mm; floral tube 10–30 mm; sepals 20–40 mm; petals white, fading pink, 20–43 mm; filaments 12–18 mm, anthers 5–10 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 19–67 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | ellipsoid, 4-angled, 8–10 × 3–4 mm, stipe 0–2 mm; sessile. |
broadly clavate or obovoid, 20–51 × 5–7 mm, winged, wings 2–4 mm, valve surface with prominent midrib, proximal stipe 8–45 mm; sessile. |
Seeds | 1 × 0.5 mm. |
narrowly obovoid, 1–1.5 × 0.5–0.7 mm. |
2n | = 56. |
= 14. |
Oenothera sessilis |
Oenothera tetraptera |
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Phenology | Flowering May–Jun. | Flowering Feb–May. |
Habitat | Moist remnant prairies in sandy or silty soil. | Alluvial flats, open areas, sandy soil, weedy sites. |
Elevation | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) | 10–300[–2000] m. (0–1000[–6600] ft.) |
Distribution |
AR; LA; TX |
TX; Mexico; Central America; West Indies (Jamaica); n South America [Introduced widely in temperate Europe, Asia, s Africa, Australia]
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Discussion | Oenothera sessilis is relatively rare within its range and has a narrow overall distribution, occurring in Ashley, Phillips, Prairie, and St. Francis counties in Arkansas, Allen, Claiborne, and Tensas parishes in Louisiana, and Galveston County in Texas. Oenothera sessilis appears to be relatively rare and may no longer occur in Texas; it was last collected there in the 1840s by Lindheimer on Galveston Island. It is also rare in Louisiana but has been collected in recent decades. It is currently most common in Arkansas. P. A. Munz (1937, 1965) treated this taxon as O. sessilis, but G. B. Straley (1977) in his revision of sect. Kneiffia placed it as a subspecies of O. pilosella based on a common octoploid (2n = 56) chromosome number, morphology, and field studies. K. N. Krakos et al. (2014), based on new field studies, controlled greenhouse breeding experiments, and phylogenetic data found that this taxon differs morphologically from O. pilosella by having consistently shorter stature and smaller flowers, is self-compatible, and does not form a monophyletic group with O. pilosella in molecular analyses, and is here reinstated as a distinct species. Oenothera sessilis is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants as O. pilosella subsp. sessilis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
In the flora area, Oenothera tetraptera is known only from southern Texas. Oenothera tetraptera presumably has become naturalized in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela), West Indies (Jamaica), Europe, Asia, South Africa, and Australia. Oenothera candida Dumont Courset is a superfluous name, as is O. candida Bellardi ex Colla, and they both pertain here. The name Hartmannia macrantha Spach is illegitimate and pertains here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Kneiffia sessilis, O. pilosella subsp. sessilis, O. pilosella var. sessilis | Hartmannia latiflora, H. tetraptera, O. latiflora, O. tetraptera var. immutabilis, Xylopleurum tetrapterum |
Name authority | (Pennell) Munz: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 64: 291. (1937) | Cavanilles: Icon. 3: 40, plate 279. (1796) |
Web links |