Oenothera texensis |
Oenothera canescens |
|
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Texas evening primrose |
beakpod evening primrose, spotted evening-primrose |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, caulescent, strigillose and also sparsely hirsute; from slender taproot. | Herbs low, forming clumps 10–50 cm diam., densely strigillose throughout; from a taproot, lateral roots producing adventitious shoots. |
Stems | several–many, ascending, unbranched or branched, 25–50 cm. |
many-branched from base, leafy, (10–)15–25(–38) cm. |
Leaves | in a basal rosette and cauline, basal (1–)2.5–6.5 × 0.6–2.3 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate or ovate, margins weakly serrulate to sinuate-pinnatifid; cauline 1–5.5 × 0.6–2 cm, blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly ovate, margins weakly serrulate. |
cauline, (0.3–)0.6–1.5(–2.5) × (0.05–)0.15–0.4(–0.6) cm, fascicles of small leaves 0.2–0.6 cm often present in non-flowering axils; petiole 0–0.1 cm; blade lanceolate to linear, base cuneate, apex acute. |
Inflorescences | erect. |
|
Flowers | 1–3 opening per day near sunrise; buds with free tips 0–1 mm; floral tube 15–26 mm; sepals 15–23 mm; petals rose purple, fading darker, 12–25(–30) mm; filaments 9–13 mm, anthers 3.5–6mm, pollen 85–100% fertile; style 26–36 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
several opening per day near sunset; buds usually without free tips, rarely free tips 0.2–0.3 mm; sepals (7–)8–12 mm; petals pink, rarely white, streaked or flecked with red, fading bright purple, (8–)10–17 mm; filaments 6–8 mm, anthers often with red longitudinal stripe, 3–6 mm; style (16–)22–27 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. |
Capsules | clavate or narrowly obovoid, 9–15 × 3.5–6 mm, apex attenuate to a sterile beak, valve midrib prominent in distal part, proximal stipe 7–12(–28) mm, gradually taperingto base; sessile. |
woody, ovoid, narrowly winged, wings 0.8–1.5 mm wide, (7–)9–12(–14) × 2–4 mm (excluding wings), abruptly constricted to a conspicuous, sterile beak, (2–)3–4.5 mm, indehiscent; sessile. |
Seeds | narrowly obovoid, 0.8–1 × 0.2–0.4 mm. |
asymmetrically cuneiform or oblanceoloid, 1.2–1.5 × 0.4–0.5 mm. |
2n | = 14. |
= 14. |
Oenothera texensis |
Oenothera canescens |
|
Phenology | Flowering May–Sep. | Flowering May–Aug. |
Habitat | Sandy and gravel bars of streambeds and along streams. | Prairie depressions, playas, margins of ditches, temporary wet areas. |
Elevation | 900–2500 m. (3000–8200 ft.) | (400–)700–1800 m. ((1300–)2300–5900 ft.) |
Distribution |
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas) |
CO; KS; NE; NM; OK; TX; WY
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Discussion | In the flora area, Oenothera texensis is known only from Jeff Davis County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Oenothera canescens is restricted to prairie depressions, playas, ditch margins, and other places of temporary water in the High Plains of the western United States from Goshen County, Wyoming, southeast to Hayes County, Nebraska, south through eastern Colorado, the eastern tier of counties in New Mexico, western Kansas, and to Garza and Dawson counties in the Texas Panhandle; also disjunct populations from Chautauqua, Sedgwick, and Stafford counties, Kansas. The illegitimate names Gaurella guttulata (Geyer ex Hooker) Small, G. canescens (Torrey & Frémont) Cockerell, and Gauropsis guttulata (Geyer ex Hooker) Cockerell pertain here. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Gaurella canescens, Megapterium canescens, O. guttulata | |
Name authority | P. H. Raven & D. R. Parnell: Madroño 20: 247. (1970) | Torrey & Frémont in J. C. Fremont: Rep. Exped. Rocky Mts., 315. (1845) |
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