Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Lavender leaf primrose

LAVENDER LEAF PRIMROSE

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Oenothera lavandulifolia T. & G.

[=Calylophus lavandulifolius (T. & G. ) Raven]

Gove County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 3-12 inches

Family: Onagraceae - Evening Primrose Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July, August

Also Called:

Lavenderleaf evening-primrose.

Stems:

Decumbent to ascending, few to many, usually branched, densely appressed gray-hairy.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, sessile, numerous, crowded, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1/4 to 2 inches long, less than 1/4 inch wide, somewhat ascending, appressed gray-hairy; margins entire; tips pointed to rounded.

Inflorescences:

Solitary flowers, in upper leaf axils.

Flowers:

1 to 2 inches wide; floral tubes 1 to 2.5 inches long; sepals 4, often with purple marginal stripes; petals 4, 1/2 to 1 inch long, about as wide, yellow, fading pink or purplish, crinkled; stamens 8; stigma disc-shaped, 4-lobed.

Fruits:

Capsules, narrow, cylindric, 1/2 to 1 inch long, 4-angled, gray-hairy; seeds many, small.

Habitat:

Dry, rocky prairie hillsides and ledges, stream valleys, roadsides, and open wooded hillsides.

Distribution:

West 1/2 of Kansas.

Uses:

The Apache used the fruits for food.

Comments:

Lavender leaf primrose is slightly woody and frequently grows in tufts. It thrives in hard-crusted, fine-grained soils.

Lavender leaf primrose