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Wolf's evening-primrose

Habit Herbs biennial or short-lived perennial, densely strigillose, also villous with spreading to subappressed hairs, hairs sometimes pustulate, also glandular puberulent distally. Herbs biennial, villous and strigillose proximally, leaves glabrate or strigillose, also glandular puberulent distally, sometimes also sparsely villous; from stout, fleshy taproot.
Stems

erect, green, flushed with red proximally or red throughout, unbranched or branches obliquely arising from rosette and sometimes secondary branches arising from main stem, 50–100 cm.

1 or few-branched from base, 50–120 cm.

Leaves

in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 13–35 ×1.5–4(–5) cm, cauline 5–18 × 1–2.5(–4) cm;

blade dull green, flat, oblanceolate to narrowly lanceolate or lanceolate to elliptic, margins bluntly dentate or subentire, teeth widely spaced or sinuate proximally;

bracts persistent.

in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 6–20 × 1–3 cm, blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic;

cauline 5–10 × 1–2.5 cm, blade lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, margins subentire or repand-denticulate.

Inflorescences

erect, unbranched.

Flowers

opening near sunset;

buds erect, 5–8 mmdiam., with free tips terminal, erect, 1–3 mm;

floral tube 30–46 mm;

sepals yellowish green, also usually flushed with red or red-striped, 17–28 mm;

petals yellow, fading orange, pale yellow and somewhat opaque, very broadly obcordate, 13–23 mm, conspicuously shorter than sepals;

filaments 12–20 mm, anthers 7–12 mm, pollen ca. 50% fertile;

style 43–58 mm, stigma usually slightly exserted beyond anthers or surrounded by them at anthesis.

4-merous, zygomorphic, opening at sunset;

floral tube 10–11 mm;

sepals 11–15 mm;

petals white, fading pink, rhombic-obovate, 11–14 mm;

filaments 6.5–9 mm, anthers 2.5–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile;

style 22–28 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers.

Capsules

erect or slightly spreading, dark dull green and sometimes red-striped when dry, narrowly lanceoloid, 30–48 × 5–7 mm, free tips of valves 0.5–2.5mm.

ellipsoid or ovoid, sharply 4-angled, with deep furrows alternating with angles for 2–3 mm from apex, ribbed from base of furrow to base of fruit, 9–11 × 3–5 mm;

sessile.

Seeds

0.9–2 × 0.9–1.3 mm.

2–4, yellowish to light brown, 2–3 mm.

2n

= 14.

= 14.

Oenothera wolfii

Oenothera dodgeniana

Phenology Flowering Jun–Oct. Flowering Jun–Sep.
Habitat Coarse-textured sandy or rocky sites, coastal dunes and bluffs, loose, sandy sites along roads, moist places. Mountain meadow openings in coniferous forests.
Elevation 0–100(–800) m. (0–300(–2600) ft.) 1800–2700 m. (5900–8900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CO; NM
Discussion

Oenothera wolfii is a PTH species and forms a ring of 14 chromosomes in meiosis, and is self-compatible and autogamous (W. Dietrich et al. 1997). It has plastome I and a AA genome composition. It is known only from the vicinity of Port Orford, Curry County, Oregon (currently apparently only as far north as Otter Rock), south in a scattered distribution through Del Norte County to the mouth of the Mattole River, Humboldt County, California. The distribution, at least in California, is closely associated with small patches of Cenozoic-age marine sediments, isolated from each other by Franciscan sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Most populations appear to occur near river mouths or to the south of a headland. The largest populations center in the area about 11 km long in the vicinity of Crescent City in Del Norte County, between Point George and Enderts Beach in Redwood National Park. There are collections from two inland California localities, one at the eastern border of Humboldt County, California (Willow Creek, Trinity River Valley), and the other at Carville, Trinity County, that may be O. wolfii. If so, they would presumably represent recent introductions and should be studied further. As summarized by Dietrich et al., O. wolfii is a rare endemic of coastal habitats and known from about 20 different sites. The total number of individuals of O. wolfii apparently fluctuates, with perhaps no more than about 5000 individuals total. It is threatened by any potential development and alteration of its habitat, presently by road maintenance and foot traffic. Another possibly more serious threat comes from the recent spread of O. glazioviana to this area. Oenothera glazioviana could swamp populations through hybridization and, perhaps, by direct competition.

Oenothera wolfii is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

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

Oenothera dodgeniana occurs in two disjunct areas: the western foothills of the San Juan Mountains in Archuleta and Huerfano counties, Colorado, and Rio Arriba County, New Mexico; and Sierra Blanca and Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln and Otero counties, south-central New Mexico. The species was collected once at Durango, La Plata County, Colorado (P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory 1972[1973]), but has not since been recollected. Oenothera dodgeniana and O. coloradensis were considered by Raven and Gregory to represent a relict species along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains that arose from more widespread species farther to the east, such as O. filiformis. Oenothera dodgeniana belongs to a subclade which is sister to that containing O. coloradensis, and within that subclade is sister to O. demareei and O. lindheimeri (W. L. Wagner et al. 2013). Although O. dodgeniana is fairly closely related to O. coloradensis, the two taxa seem to have had independent origins that have led to distributions along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains. Oenothera dodgeniana is self-compatible (Raven and Gregory).

(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. Oenothera Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Oenothera > sect. Gaura > subsect. Gaura
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. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. xylocarpa
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. 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. suffrutescens, O. suffulta, O. tetraptera, O. texensis, O. toumeyi, O. triangulata, O. triloba, O. tubicula, O. villosa, O. wolfii, O. xylocarpa
Synonyms O. hookeri subsp. wolfii, Var. o. var. o. Gaura neomexicana, O. coloradensis subsp. neomexicana
Name authority (Munz) P. H. Raven, W. Dietrich & Stubbe: Syst. Bot. 4: 244. (1980) Krakos & W. L. Wagner: PhytoKeys 28: 66. (2013)
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