Oenothera stricta |
Oenothera coloradensis |
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Chilean evening primrose |
Colorado beeblossom |
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Habit | Herbs monocarpic perennial, strigillose proximally, short-hirtellous and strigillose distally, leaves sometimes glabrate; from stout, fleshy taproot. | |
Stems | 1–few-branched from base, 50–80(–100) cm. |
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Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 4–18 × 1.5–4 cm, blade very narrowly elliptic, lanceolate, or oblanceolate; cauline 5–13 × 1–4 cm, blade narrowly elliptic, narrowly lanceolate, or narrowly oblanceolate, margins subentire or repand-denticulate. |
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Flowers | 4-merous, zygomorphic, opening at sunset; floral tube 8–12 mm; sepals 9.5–13 mm; petals white, fading pink, rhombic-obovate, 7–12 mm; filaments 6.5–9 mm, anthers 2.5–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 19–25 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
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Capsules | ellipsoid or ovoid, sharply 4-angled, with fairly deep furrows alternating with angles, 6–8.5 × 2–3 mm; sessile. |
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Seeds | 1–4, yellowish to light brown, 2–3 × 1 mm. |
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2n | = 14. |
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Oenothera stricta |
Oenothera coloradensis |
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Phenology | Flowering Jul–Sep. | |
Habitat | In wet meadow vegetation of North and South Platte River watersheds on high plains, sloping floodplains, drainage basins in heavy soil. | |
Elevation | 1500–2000 m. (4900–6600 ft.) | |
Distribution |
South America [Introduced, California] |
CO; NE; WY |
Discussion | Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora). Oenothera stricta is a PTH species and forms a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous (W. Dietrich 1977). Subspecies stricta is naturalized in many areas around the world and may be so in California. Subspecies altissima W. Dietrich occurs only in Argentina. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera coloradensis is currently known from fewer than two dozen populations from southern Laramie and Platte counties in Wyoming, northern Weld County, Colorado, formerly near Fort Collins, Larimer County, Colorado, and in western Kimball County, Nebraska. It is federally listed as a threatened species in the United States. The primary threats are agricultural use of habitat, herbicide spraying to control weed species, and livestock trampling and grazing (see W. L. Wagner et al. 2013). Recent study by K. N. Krakos (unpubl.) has determined this species to be self-compatible. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) described this species as glandular puberulent in inflorescence, which was repeated in the recent revised taxonomy (Wagner et al.); however, examination of specimens show that P. A. Munz (1965) was correct in describing the pubescence of the inflorescence as non-glandular. (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. Oenothera > subsect. Munzia > ser. Allochroa | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Gaura |
Sibling taxa | ||
Subordinate taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaura coloradensis, G. neomexicana subsp. coloradensis, G. neomexicana var. coloradensis | |
Name authority | Ledebour ex Link: Enum. Hort. Berol. Alt. 1: 377. (1821) — (as striata) | (Rydberg) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 211. (2007) |
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