Flora of North America species comparison

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Oenothera suffrutescens

Oenothera sect. Gaura

linda tarde, scarlet beeblossom, scarlet evening-primrose, scarlet gaura, wild honeysuckle

biennial bee-blossom
Habit Herbs perennial, densely strigillose, sometimes also long-villous proximally, sometimes glabrate; from a deep, thick taproot, often with branching underground stems, or branching only at surface, these often becoming horizontal or nearly so and giving rise to new plants. Herbs annual, biennial, or perennial, caulescent; from a taproot, sometimes woody or producing rhizomes.
Stems

erect or ascending, usually many-branched, 10–120 cm.

usually erect or ascending, sometimes decumbent, branched or unbranched.
Leaves

in a basal rosette (but not present at flowering) and cauline, 0.7–6.5 × 0.1–1.5 cm, blade linear to narrowly elliptic, margins entire or remotely and coarsely serrate.

in a basal rosette and cauline (sometimes not present at flowering), (0.5–)2–8(–13) cm;

blade margins sinuate-dentate to denticulate, serrate, lobed, or entire.
Inflorescences

solitary flowers in axils of distal leaves, forming a spike, erect or nodding.
Flowers

4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset;

floral tube 4–11(–13) mm;

sepals 5–9(–10) mm;

petals white, fading salmon pink to scarlet-red, slightly unequal, obovate to elliptic-obovate or elliptic, 3–7(–8) mm, abruptly clawed;

filaments 3–6.5(–7) mm, anthers (2.5–)3–5(–5.5) mm;

style 10–22 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

opening near sunset or sunrise;

buds erect, terete, without free tips;

floral tube 1.5–20[–42] mm, usually lanate in distal 1/2 within;

sepals splitting along one suture, remaining coherent and reflexed as a unit at anthesis, or separating in pairs or sometimes individually;

petals white [rarely yellow], fading pink to red, purple, or off-white, spatulate to elliptic, rhombic, or, sometimes, oblanceolate, usually clawed;

filaments with basal scale 0.3–0.5 mm, these nearly closing mouth of floral tube, or sometimes reduced or absent;

stigma deeply divided into (3 or) 4 linear lobes.
Capsules

erect, pyramidal in distal 1/2 and abruptly constricted to terete proximal part, pyramidal part weakly or strongly angled, not conspicuously bulging at base, 4–9 × (1–)1.5–3 mm;

sessile.

woody and nutlike, ovoid, fusiform, lanceoloid, ellipsoid, obovoid, or pyramidal, (3- or)4-angled, sometimes weakly so, or (3- or)4-winged, apex acute to attenuate or, sometimes, rounded, indehiscent, septa fragile, not evident at maturity;

sessile, sometimes disarticulating from plant at maturity.
Seeds

(1–)3 or 4, light to reddish brown, 1.5–3 × 1–1.5 mm.

reduced to 1–4(–8), usually ovoid, rarely oblanceoloid (O. glaucifolia), surface smooth.
2n

= 14, 28, 42, 56.

= 14, 28, 42, 56.

Oenothera suffrutescens

Oenothera sect. Gaura
Phenology Flowering Apr–Aug(–Nov).
Habitat Sandy or clay soil, often calcareous, desert shrublands to pinyon-juniper or oak woodlands, grasslands, disturbed areas.
Elevation 150–2000(–3000) m. (500–6600(–9800) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; CO; IA; IL; IN; KS; MI; MN; MO; MT; ND; NE; NM; NV; NY; OK; SD; TX; UT; WI; WY; AB; BC; MB; ON; SK; Mexico (Aguascalientes, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Zacatecas); intro­duced in South America (Brazil); Europe (Wales)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
North America; Mexico; Central America (Guatemala) [Introduced in South America, Europe, Asia, s Africa, Australia]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Oenothera suffrutescens is naturalized sporadically in southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties; although native in eastern part of the state), Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, southern Ontario, and Wisconsin.

P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined Oenothera suffrutescens to be self-incompatible and polyploid. It is known to form hybrids with O. calcicola and O. hispida.

Schizocarya kunthii Spach is an illegitimate name based on Gaura epilobioides that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Species 25 (23 in the flora).

Section Gaura consists of 25 species (26 taxa) that are subdivided into eight subsections [seven in the flora area; subsect. Gauridium (Spach) W. L. Wagner & Hoch is is found only in Mexico]. All species have indehiscent capsules, a feature otherwise found in Oenothera only in O. canescens (sect. Gauropsis). Oenothera havardii (sect. Paradoxus) and O. linifolia (sect. Peniophyllum) have tardily and only partially dehiscent capsules. Twenty-one species in four subsections (Campogaura, Gaura, Stipogaura, and Xenogaura) have zygomorphic flowers; the other four subsections (Gauridium, Schizocarya, Stenosiphon, and Xerogaura), each with a single species, have actinomorphic, or nearly actinomorphic, flowers. Since Linnaeus described Gaura, it has been maintained as distinct at the generic level and, at various times, even at the tribal level. Its distinct status rested on several characteristic features including a scale at the base of the filaments; a peltate indusium at the base of the stigma; indehiscent, nutlike capsules; and seeds reduced to 1–4(–8) (P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory 1972[1973]; W. L. Wagner et al. 2007). The most recent molecular studies (G. D. Hoggard et al. 2004; R. A. Levin et al. 2004) place Gaura strongly within the Oenothera clade and equally strongly in a clade with other sections possessing winged/angled capsules that are sometimes indehiscent or nearly so. Hoggard et al. found strong support for the inclusion of the monotypic Stenosiphon within Gaura; Levin et al. concurred, finding strong support for the monophyly of the Gaura lineage, but placed it unequivocally within Oenothera. Reconsidering the distinctive features of Gaura, Wagner et al. found that the indusium characterizes the whole genus Oenothera, and the indehiscent fruits seem to characterize a larger clade in the genus. The reduction in seed number appears to be a strong synapomorphy for the reconstituted Oenothera sect. Gaura. Wagner et al. recognized eight subsections within sect. Gaura that also includes Stenosiphon. The subsections are arranged according to the synthesis of morphological characters, crossing analyses, and molecular data (Raven and Gregory; Wagner et al.). Oenothera anomala Curtis and O. hexandra (Ortega) W. L. Wagner & Hoch are Mexican species that occur well south of the flora area.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Filaments without basal scales or with minute scale; flowers nearly actinomorphic.
→ 2
2. Floral tubes 6–17 mm; herbs probably biennial, glaucous at least in proximal part 17k.
O. subsect. Stenosiphon
2. Floral tubes 1.5–5 mm; herbs annual, not glaucous 17k.
O. subsect. Schizocarya
1. Filaments with basal scales; flowers zygomorphic or sometimes nearly actinomorphic.
→ 3
3. Capsules with a slender stipe (0.5–)2–10 mm 17k.
O. subsect. Stipogaura
3. Capsules usually with a stipe 0.2–2.2 mm.
→ 4
4. Capsules pyramidal in distal 1/2, abruptly constricted to a cylindrical proximal part.
→ 5
5. Capsules not conspicuously bulging at base of distal pyramidal 1/2; plants not rhizomatous 17k.
O. subsect. Campogaura
5. Capsule conspicuously bulging at base of the distal pyramidal 1/2; plants rhizomatous 17k.
O. subsect. Xenogaura
4. Capsules fusiform, ellipsoid, ovoid, or obovoid and then abruptly constricted or cuneate to base.
→ 6
6. Capsules ellipsoid, ovoid, or obovoid 17k.
O. subsect. Gaura
6. Capsules fusiform.
→ 7
7. Floral tubes 9–13 mm; flowers nearly actinomorphic 17k.
O. subsect. Xerogaura
7. Floral tubes 3–11(–13) mm; flowers zygomorphic 17k.
O. subsect. Campogaura
Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Campogaura Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera
Sibling taxa
O. acutissima, O. albicaulis, O. argillicola, O. arida, O. arizonica, O. biennis, O. boquillensis, O. brachycarpa, O. calcicola, O. californica, O. canescens, O. capillifolia, O. cavernae, O. cespitosa, O. cinerea, O. clelandii, O. coloradensis, O. cordata, O. coronopifolia, O. coryi, O. curtiflora, O. curtissii, O. deltoides, O. demareei, O. dodgeniana, O. drummondii, O. elata, O. engelmannii, O. falfurriae, O. filiformis, O. filipes, O. flava, O. fruticosa, O. gaura, O. gayleana, O. glaucifolia, O. glazioviana, O. grandiflora, O. grandis, O. harringtonii, O. hartwegii, O. havardii, O. heterophylla, O. hispida, O. howardii, O. humifusa, O. jamesii, O. kunthiana, O. laciniata, O. lavandulifolia, O. lindheimeri, O. linifolia, O. longissima, O. macrocarpa, O. mckelveyae, O. mexicana, O. nealleyi, O. neomexicana, O. nutans, O. nuttallii, O. oakesiana, O. organensis, O. pallida, O. parviflora, O. patriciae, O. perennis, O. pilosella, O. platanorum, O. podocarpa, O. primiveris, O. psammophila, O. pubescens, O. rhombipetala, O. riparia, O. rosea, O. serrulata, O. sessilis, O. simulans, O. sinuosa, O. spachiana, O. speciosa, O. stricta, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
Subordinate taxa
O. subsect. Campogaura, O. subsect. Gaura, O. subsect. Schizocarya, O. subsect. Stenosiphon, O. subsect. Stipogaura, O. subsect. Xenogaura, O. subsect. Xerogaura
Synonyms Gaura suffrutescens, G. bracteata, G. coccinea, G. coccinea var. arizonica, G. coccinea var. epilobioides, G. coccinea var. glabra, G. coccinea var. integerrima, G. coccinea var. parvifolia, G. epilobioides, G. glabra, G. induta, G. linearis, G. marginata, G. multicaulis, G. odorata, G. parvifolia, G. spicata Gaura
Name authority (Seringe) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 214. (2007) (Linnaeus) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 165. (2007)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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