Chylismia heterochroma

Shockley's evening-primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

Shockley's evening-primrose is a California native annual found in the southern eastern desert mountains and northern Desert Mountains, specifically the Grapevine Mountains, in creosote-bush scrub and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 600 to 2,100 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces lavender flowers with yellow bases, dotted with lavender, opening at dawn and measuring 2 to 6 millimeters across. Growing with stems 10 to 100 centimeters tall, this plant is glandular-hairy or nearly smooth and pale green toward the upper parts. Its leaves are primarily basal, less than 70 millimeters long, with an ovate shape and heart-shaped base. The fruit is an erect, club-shaped structure 7 to 13 millimeters long, carried on a short 2 to 5 millimeter pedicel.

Habitat: Alluvial slopes, rock slides, creosote-bush scrub to pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 600-2100 m

Bioregions: SNE, n DMtns (Grapevine Mtns)

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.