LAVENDER LEAF PRIMROSE
File Size: 75 KB
 
Oenothera lavandulifolia  T. & G.
[=Calylophus lavandulifolius  (T. & G. ) Raven]
Gove County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 3-12 inches
Family: Onagraceae - Evening Primrose Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July, August
Also Called: Lavenderleaf evening-primrose.
Stems: Decumbent to ascending, few to many, usually branched, densely appressed gray-hairy.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, sessile, numerous, crowded, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1/4 to 2 inches long, less than 1/4 inch wide, somewhat ascending, appressed gray-hairy; margins entire; tips pointed to rounded.
Inflorescences: Solitary flowers, in upper leaf axils.
Flowers: 1 to 2 inches wide; floral tubes 1 to 2.5 inches long; sepals 4, often with purple marginal stripes; petals 4, 1/2 to 1 inch long, about as wide, yellow, fading pink or purplish, crinkled; stamens 8; stigma disc-shaped, 4-lobed.
Fruits: Capsules, narrow, cylindric, 1/2 to 1 inch long, 4-angled, gray-hairy; seeds many, small.
Habitat: Dry, rocky prairie hillsides and ledges, stream valleys, roadsides, and open wooded hillsides.
Distribution: West 1/2 of Kansas.
Uses: The Apache used the fruits for food.
Comments: Lavender leaf primrose is slightly woody and frequently grows in tufts. It thrives in hard-crusted, fine-grained soils.

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