The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Wolf's evening-primrose

Lindheimer's beeblossom

Habit Herbs biennial or short-lived perennial, densely strigillose, also villous with spreading to subappressed hairs, hairs sometimes pustulate, also glandular puberulent distally. Herbs clumped perennial, villous, usually more densely so proximally, hairs erect or ± appressed on leaf blades, also glandular puberulent distally, rarely glabrate; from 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.

many from base, ascending or erect, usually branched, 50–150 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, 0.5–9 × 0.

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 sunrise;

floral tube 4–9 mm;

sepals 9–17 mm;

petals white, fading light or deep pink, rhombic-obovate to elliptic, 10–15 mm;

filaments 7–12 mm, anthers 3.5–4.5 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile;

style 16–27 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis.

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, 4-angled, 6–9 × 2–3.5 mm;

sessile.

Seeds

0.9–2 × 0.9–1.3 mm.

1–4, yellowish to light brown, 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm.

1

–1.3 cm;

blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblanceolate, margins coarsely and remotely serrate.

2n

= 14.

= 14.

Oenothera wolfii

Oenothera lindheimeri

Phenology Flowering Jun–Oct. Flowering Apr–Jul(–Oct).
Habitat Coarse-textured sandy or rocky sites, coastal dunes and bluffs, loose, sandy sites along roads, moist places. Black soil in coastal prairies.
Elevation 0–100(–800) m. (0–300(–2600) ft.) 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
LA; TX
[BONAP county map]
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 lindheimeri has a fairly narrow distribution and occurs only in Acadia, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, St. Mary, Tangipahoa, and Vermillion parishes in Louisiana, and Brazoria, Brazos, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Orange, Victoria, and Victoria counties in Texas.

P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) found Oenothera lindheimeri to be self-incompatible. It occasionally forms hybrids with O. filiformis. This species is widely cultivated and has many different cultivars.

(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. 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. 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 lindheimeri, G. filiformis var. munzii
Name authority (Munz) P. H. Raven, W. Dietrich & Stubbe: Syst. Bot. 4: 244. (1980) (Engelmann & A. Gray) W. L. Wagner & Hoch: Syst. Bot. Monogr. 83: 213. (2007)
Web links