Oenothera wolfii
Oenothera fruticosa
Wolf's evening-primrose
narrow-leaf evening-primrose
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.
erect to decumbent, branched or unbranched, (10–)30–80 cm.
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, rosette usually withered by anthesis, surfaces sometimes glaucous, especially abaxially, basal 3–12 × 0.5–3 cm, petiole 1–4 cm, blade oblanceolate to obovate, margins subentire, dentate, or denticulate, sometimes undulate;
cauline 2–6(–11) × (0.1–)0.5–2(–5) cm, petiole 0.1–2(–6) cm, blade linear, lanceolate to oblanceolate, narrowly elliptic, or ovate, margins subentire or dentate or denticulate, sometimes undulate.
erect, unbranched.
usually erect, rarely nodding, flowers in axils of distalmost few nodes.
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.
opening near sunrise;
buds with free tips 0.5–8(–13) mm, connivent, sometimes spreading;
floral tube 5–20 mm;
sepals 5–20 mm;
petals pale to bright yellow, fading pale pink, orangish pink, or yellow, (8–)15–25(–30) mm;
filaments 5–15 mm, anthers 4–7 mm, pollen 85–100% fertile;
style 12–20 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.
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.
clavate to oblong-clavate or oblong-ellipsoid, 4-angled to 4-winged, (5–)10–17(–20) × (2–)3–4(–6) mm, stipe 0.1–10 mm;
sessile.
0.9–2 × 0.9–1.3 mm.
1 × 0.5 mm.
= 14.
Oenothera wolfii
Oenothera fruticosa
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.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Oenothera fruticosa as delimited here is a polymorphic species. Previous classification of this group has undergone numerous reorganizations due to the difficulties in separating populations into discrete morphological taxa. In the past it has most frequently been treated as two species, O. fruticosa and O. tetragona Roth, often with a dozen or more infraspecific taxa recognized. The broad delimitation of G. B. Straley (1977) is followed here with one species consisting of two subspecies that appear to intergrade extensively across a wide area of overlap. Straley determined O. fruticosa to be self-incompatible and polyploid.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Capsules clavate to oblong-clavate, widest above middle; plants moderately to densely strigillose, and/or sometimes glandular puberulent or villous; leaf blade margins subentire or weakly and remotely denticulate. | subsp. fruticosa |
1. Capsules oblong to oblong-ellipsoid, widest at middle; plants glandular puberulent or glabrous, sometimes villous or strigillose; leaf blade margins dentate to remotely denticulate. | subsp. tetragona |
CA
OR
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
