Pale evening primrose

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Pale evening primrose flower

Pale evening primrose capsules

Pale evening primrose inflorescence

Pale evening primrose fruit

Pale evening primrose

Pale evening primrose

Pale evening primrose

Pale evening primrose flower

Pale evening primrose

Pale evening primrose sepals

Pale evening primrose leaves

Pale evening primrose

Pale evening primrose flower and bud

Morphology

Stem

Erect, single, simple or branched, short densely hairy and stiff spreading-hairy; epidermis white, not exfoliating; branches often decumbent from base.

Leaves

Basal leaves oblanceolate, egg-shaped, or spatula-shaped, 1 to 5.6 inches long, entire to wavy pinnately-divided, often absent at flowering; stalks often longer than blades; stem leaves alternate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 1/2 to 4 inches long, 1/5 to 4/5 inch wide, stiff-hairy and soft-hairy; margins wavy to deeply lobed; short stalked to sessile.

Inflorescence

Solitary flowers in axils of upper leaves.

Flower

Buds nodding; floral tube slender, .6 to 1.4 inch long, sparingly hairy, gray-colored; sepals 4, distinct, linear-lanceolate, 1/2 to 1 inch long, sparsely hairy, bending abruptly backward; margins with reddish-purple stripe; petals 4, heart-shaped, .6 to 1.6 inch long, nearly as wide, white, fading pinkish; tip notched; stamens 8; stigma 4-lobed.

Fruit

Capsule, sessile, cylindric, .8 to 1.6 inch long, 1/10 to 1/8 inch in diameter, ribbed, ascending, straight or slightly curved, pubescent; seeds ellipsoid, yellowish-brown, pitted, in 2 rows in each compartment.

Ecology

Habitat

Sandy prairies, stream valleys, roadsides, waste places; sandy soil.

Distribution

West 2/5 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans ate the fruits for food, boiled the seeds in soups, used the dried flowers used as ceremonial medicine, and smoked the plant as a tobacco substitute.

Additional Notes