CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE
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CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE

Oenothera laciniata
(Onagraceae)

Identification

  • Flowering time - May, June, July, August, September
  • Rare - single plant on FF floodplain after 2011 flood
  • Showy, notched yellow flowers with 4 heart-shaped petals
  • Deeply divided leaves
  • Divided leaves separate this plant from our Common Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
  • CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE
  • CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE
  • CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE
  • CUT-LEAF EVENING PRIMROSE
Click on each photo thumbnail to enlarge.

This weedy annual is identified by large yellow flowers which have 4 notched, heart-shaped petals (B) and deeply cut leaves (A,D). Flowers open at night and close as the day progresses.  Spent flowers fade to a pinkish color and fall off (C,E).

One specimen was found on Cottonwood Trail in early June of 2012, the year after the flood of 2011. Like several other weedy annuals whose seeds were likely deposited on the bare sand and mud, it germinated under these favorable conditions only to disappear in following years.

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