Calylophus tubicula
(synonym of Oenothera tubicula)
Oenothera californica
California evening primrose
ascending or decumbent, usually branched from near base, sometimes new rosettes forming at branch apex when buried in drifting sand, 10–60 cm.
in a basal rosette and cauline, rosette sometimes weakly developed or absent, at least during flowering, 1–13 × 0.5–2 cm;
petiole 0–2(–4.5) cm;
blade oblong to oblanceolate or spatulate, sometimes rhombic-ovate, margins entire or weakly to conspicuously dentate or pinnatifid.
1–several opening per day near sunset;
buds nodding, weakly quadrangular, with free tips 0–0.8 mm;
floral tube 20–40 mm;
sepals 15–30 mm, not spotted;
petals white, fading pink to deep pink, broadly obcordate, 15–35(–40) mm;
filaments 10–17 mm, anthers 5–10 mm;
style 30–60 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.
spreading to ascending, woody in age, often curved upward, cylindrical, obtusely 4-angled, tapering slightly from base to apex, 20–80 × 2–3.5 mm;
sessile.
numerous, in 1 row per locule, olive-brown or yellowish brown to black, sometimes with minute purple dots, obovoid, 1–2.5 mm.
Calylophus tubicula
Oenothera californica
Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora).
H. F. Towner (1977) found that Oenothera tubicula is self-incompatible and diurnal with opening times just prior to sunrise. It occurs primarily on limestone soil in arid lowlands, but occasionally in montane areas, from Guadalupe County, New Mexico, south to western Texas, northeast to Howard County, Texas, and south to northern Zacatecas, south-central Nuevo León, and southwestern Tamaulipas, 600–1800 m. Subspecies strigulosa (Towner) W. L. Wagner & Hoch is known only from rocky, open sites and canyons in relatively montane areas, sometimes in pine forests in southernmost Coahuila, south-central Nuevo León, and southeastern Tamaulipas, from 1500 to 2300 m. It differs in being strigillose on the ovary and distally on stems, leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, and the petals fading red or purple.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).
Most populations of Oenothera californica are self-incompatible (W. L. Wagner et al. 2007; K. E. Theiss et al. 2010), but some populations of subsp. californica are self-compatible. All chromosome counts indicate that subspp. avita and eurekensis are diploid (2n = 14) and those of subsp. californica are tetraploid (2n = 28). Oenothera californica is polymorphic with subspp. avita and californica being very similar, and differing primarily in ecology, distribution, and relatively minor differences in leaf morphology and ploidy level, while the sand dune-restricted subsp. eurekensis is more distinctive in both morphology and habitat.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Plants with fleshy underground horizontal rootstocks; stems sometimes with new rosettes forming at stem apex when becoming buried in drifting sand; leaf blades rhombic-ovate to oblanceolate, margins entire or weakly dentate. | subsp. eurekensis |
1. Plants with a taproot and adventitious shoots from lateral roots; stems not with new rosettes forming at branch apex; leaf blades oblong to oblanceolate to spatulate, margins entire or weakly to conspicuously dentate or pinnatifid. | → 2 |
2. Leaf blade margins usually entire or weakly dentate, sometimes more conspicuously dentate to pinnatifid; capsules 30–55 mm. | subsp. californica |
2. Leaf blade margins conspicuously dentate to pinnatifid, rarely some or all of them entire or weakly dentate; capsules 20–80 mm. | subsp. avita |
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