Desert Evening Primrose
Oenothera primiveris
Photographed along Mesquite Wash, Maricopa Co., Arizona. April 12, 2008.
FLOWERS: Delicate yellow with four cordate
petals, four sepals and a stigma with four lobes. Eight stamens. Blooms mostly
in mid spring, but only in years with adequate rainfallANNUAL: A low
growing annual of spring. Most plants are less than
18 cm tall with most of the leaves growing nearly prostrate.
LEAVES: Leaves are elyptic with course but rounded teeth.
RANGE: Ranges throughout the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Mexico
especially near washes. Also found in the Mojave and Chihuahuan Deserts. Two
recognized subspecies. O. p. primiveris has petals up to 25mm and the
stigma about the same length as the stamens. O. p. bufonis has larger
petals and a stigma that rises above the stamens (Citation:
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange/I_treat_indexes.html Thu Apr 24 06:52:12
2008).
FRUIT: Ridged capsules with many seeds form way below the flower at the
end of a long tube, down close to base of the plant.
UNARMED. No spines/thorns.