588 ONAGRACEAE 



Totals yellow, with 12 brown spots at base; leaves linear or nearly so, not obviously 



veined 24. 0. kemensis. 



Petals without brown spots at base ; leaves obviously veined. 



Leaf-blades orbicular-cordate, scattered; under side of leaves green-vcincd ; petals 



yellow or reddish 25. 0. cardiophylla. 



Leaf-blades oblonjj to ovato and more or less pinnatifid, usually more or less basally 

 clustered or on lower part of stem; under side of leav(>s purple-veined. 

 Petals white, rarely yellow, shortly clawed; capsules a little clavate, 4 to 5 



lines long, on pedicels i! to 7 lines long 26. 0. scapoidea. 



Petals not white, sessile ; capsules linear. 

 Petals yellow. 



Pedicels stout, commonly 1 to 3 lines long; capsules stoutish, com- 

 monly 1 to 2=;4 inches long 27. 0. brcvipes. 



Pedicels capillary, commonly 3 to 6 lines long; capsules slender, com- 

 monly i) to 14 lines long; pedicels commonly 3 to 6 lines 



long 28. 0. multijvfja. 



Petals purplish; capsules not slender, commonly 6 lines long; pedicels 1 

 to IMi lines long 29. O.heterochroma. 



1. 0. hookeri T. «& G. Tall Evenixg Primrose. Stem erect, usually simple, 

 2 to 6 feet hiijrli; lierbapre canescently puberulent and often hirsute; leaf -blades 

 ovate to lanceolate or oi3lanceolate, 3 to 9 inches long, the lowest drawn down to 

 petioles ^2 to 4 inches long; calyx-tube 1 to 2 inches long; calyx-tips free in the 

 bud; petals obcordate, bright yellow (drjang pink), 1 (or 1/2) to 2 inches long 

 and quite as broad, of variable size on one plant; anthers versatile, 1/2 inch long; 

 style disk-shaped below the cylindric stigmas; capsules obtusely quadrangular, 

 woody, more or less pubescent or hirsute, I/2 to 2 inches long, the valves with a 

 strong midrib ; seeds sharply angled. 



Moist lowlands or along streams, 20 to 6500 feet : almost throughout Califor- 

 nia, but always absent from the dry floors of cismontane valleys and from the arid 

 plains of the transmontane deserts. East to Colorado, south to Mexico. Flowers 

 nocturnal. ]\Iay-Oct. 



Note on variation. — As it occurs in California, Oenothera hookeri fairly represents, in habit, 

 leafage, inflorescence, flowers and fruit, one natural unit of specific rank, although there are 

 sometimes departures from the prevailing form in leaf breadth and not rarely in pubescence. 

 It is not unlikely that each minor climatic area has its own minute and constant genetical strain. 

 The original Douglas plant (type. Herb. Kew), apparently a nearly unique strain, is very hairy; 

 its free caljrx-tips are a little obscured by hairiness, and somewhat coarse. Bridges 76 ("Cali- 

 fornia") is like it but has the slender calyx-tips conspicuously free as is usual. By reason of a 

 specimen collected at Santa Cruz (J. Ball in 1884), which is markedly hairy and with obscure 

 calyx-tips, it is suggested that Santa Cruz may be the type locality for Oenothera hookeri, since 

 we know that both Douglas and Bridges collected near Santa Cruz. There is a canescent form at 

 San Diego (Spencer 113 in part). 



Locs. — Coast Ranges: Yreka, Butler 1799; Crescent City, M. S. Baker 223; Cape Mendocino, 

 Tracy 4968 ; White Sulphur Creek, Napa Valley, Jepson 14,492 ; Lake Merced, San Francisco, 

 Jepson 10,244; Purissima Creek, San Mateo Co., Jepson 4156; Alvarado, Jepson 14,496; Carmel 

 Bay, E. Ferguson 299; Santa Lucia Peak, Jepson 4743. Great Valley: Andrus IsL, Sacramento 

 Co., Jepson 14,494 ; Sherman Isl., Sacramento Co., Jepson 10,225 ; Exeter, Tulare Co., Jepson 

 13,309. Sierra Nevada: Cooks sta., Amador Co., K. Brandegee ; Yosemite Valley, Jepson 3132; 

 Kings Canon, Jepson 773 ; Kern Flat, Tulare Co., Hall 4- Babcock 5409. East side of the Sierra 

 Nevada crest: Surprise Valley, Modoc Co., Jepson 784G ; Janesville, Lassen Co., T. Brandegee ; 

 Lundy, Mono Co., Maud MintJwrn ; Owens Lake, Jepson 5102. S. Cal. : Victorville, Mohave Desert, 

 Parish 10,593 ; Ojai Valley, Olive Thacher 30 ; San Antonio Canon, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 127; 

 San Bernardino, Parish; Strawberry Valley, San Jacinto Mts., Hall 2639; Palomar Mt., Esther 

 Hewlett 66 ; Escondido Creek, San Diego Co., Carl Meyer 247. 



Refs. — Oenothera hookeri T. & G. Fl. 1:493 (1840), type from Cal., Douglas; Jepson, 

 Man. 681, fig. 663 (1925). 0. jepsonii Greene, Fl. Fr. 211 (1891), type loc. Newtowai Ldg., 

 lower Sacramento River, Jepson. 0. biennis var. grandiflora Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 335 (1901) ; 

 not O. biennis var. grandiflora Lindl. (1833). 0. grandiflora Jepson, Fl. W, Mid. Cal. ed. 2, 282 

 (1911) : not O. grandiflora Ait. (1789). 



Oenothera laciniata Hill. var. grandis Britt. HI. Fl. 2:487, — 1897. 0. sinuata var. gran- 

 diflora Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 8:581 (1873), type from Texas. — Mentone, San Bernardino Val- 

 ley, resting on Geo. Bobertson ace. Parish (Muhl. 3:60); it is, perhaps, O. californica or O. 

 hookeri. 



