Oenothera primiveris – Desert Evening Primrose

Oenothera primiveris - Desert Evening Primrose, Bottle Evening-primrose, Yellow Desert Evening Primrose

Oenothera primiveris - Desert Evening Primrose, Bottle Evening-primrose, Yellow Desert Evening Primrose

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Oenothera primiveris

Common Names: Desert Evening Primrose, Bottle Evening-primrose, Yellow Desert Evening Primrose

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Annual

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert

Flower Color: Buttery yellow, Pinkish orange (when old and wilted)

Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring

Height: To only 4 inches (10 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are nocturnal and open in the evening and then close the following morning. The flowers are up to 2 inches (5 cm) across and have 4 broad, notched, heart-shaped petals that turn a pinkish color as they age and wilt. The leaves are solid grayish green to variably spotted with red-brown, oblanceolate in shape, deeply toothed or pinnately lobed except near the leaf tips, and in a flattened basal rosette. The first leaves may not be lobed, while the later leaves are typically very deeply lobed.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Onagraceae – Evening Primrose family
Genus: Oenothera L. – evening primrose
Species: Oenothera primiveris A. Gray – desert evening primrose

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map