Oenothera deltoides

Devil's lantern, lion-in-a-cage, basket evening-primrose, Basket Evening-Primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Devil's lantern is a California native perennial found in desert regions in sandy or open habitats. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers that fade to pink, with large blooms emerging from nodding buds. Growing with decumbent or erect stems 20 to 100 centimeters tall that are stout and spongy with peeling texture, it forms loosely rosetted clusters. Its leaves are diamond-shaped to oblanceolate, ranging 2 to 15 centimeters long and varying from nearly entire to pinnately lobed. The fruit is a cylindrical, generally curved pod 2 to 6 centimeters long that becomes slightly twisted as it matures.

California counties: San Bernardino, Ventura, Riverside, Imperial, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, San Diego, Lassen, Santa Barbara

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