Images
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Morphology
- Stem
- Decumbent to erect, usually much-branched proximally, sometimes simple, strigulose and lanate; epidermis green or greenish white. Plants caulescent, not caespitose.
- Leaves
- Basal and cauline, alternate; basal long-petiolate, blade oblanceolate, 4 to 12 inches long, 2/5 to 2 inches wide, margins irregularly dentate; cauline short-petiolate or sessile, blade lanceolate to oblanceolate or elliptic, 4/5 to 3.6 inches long, 1/8 to 1.25 inch wide, sinuate-dentate to sinuate or pinnately lobed, rarely entire, surfaces glabrate or strigulose.
- Inflorescence
- Flowers solitary, axillary.
- Flower
- Radially symmetric; hypanthium 1 to 2 inches, sparsely to densely villous; sepals 4, lanceolate, .8 to 1.2 inch, coherent and reflexed to 1 side at flowering; petals 4, yellow, often fading pink, obcordate, .8 to 1.6 inch, apex rounded; stamens 8; anthers .28 to .35 inch; stigma positioned above anthers, deeply 4-lobed, lobes .2 to .5 inch.
- Fruit
- Capsules, dehiscent, ascending, cylindric, 4 to 20 inches long, .8 to 1.2 inch wide, straight or slightly curved, not ribbed or winged, strigulose and villous; seeds many per fruit, golden brown, asymmetrically ellipsoid to subglobose, 0.3 to .06 inch, pitted.
Ecology
- Habitat
- Sandy mixed-grass and shortgrass prairies, sand prairies, pastures, roadsides, fields, and disturbed sites.
- Distribution
- West 4/5 of Kansas
Additional Notes
Comments
Oenothera, from Greek oinos, "wine," and thera, "to imbibe," because a related European plant was thought to stimulate a taste for wine and grandis, large, alluding to the flowers.
Quick Facts
- Plant Type
- Wildflower
- Family
- Onagraceae - Evening-primrose Family
- Height
- 8-30 inches
- Origin
- Native
- Last Updated
- 2015-06-19
Color Groups
Yellow Wildflowers
Flowering Period
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Blooms: May, June, July, August, September, October