Plant Name
Scientific Name: Oenothera rosea
Synonym: Hartmannia rosea
Common Names: Rose Evening Primrose, Rosy Evening-primrose, Pink Evening-primrose
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Riparian. This wildflower grows along streams and rivers in the desert and uplands.
Flower Color: Pink, Rose-purple
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer
Height: Up to 2 feet (60 cm) tall
Description: The flowers open at sunrise, are less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and have cream-colored anthers and 4 egg-shaped petals with conspicuous darker veins. The flowers fade to a dark pink color and are followed by club-shaped seed capsules that are widest near the tip. The leaves are both in a basal rosette and on the stems, and they are green, alternate, hairless to sparsely hairy, variably wavy-toothed, and elliptic or oblanceolate in shape. The lower leaves are sometimes pinnatifid at the base. The multiple stems are green, hairy, branched or not, and erect to ascending.
The similar, pink-flowered Fort Huachuca Evening Primrose (Oenothera platanorum) and Pinkladies (Oenothera speciosa) have larger flowers with only faintly veined petals.
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 rosea L'Hér. ex Aiton – rose evening primrose
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