Oenothera flava

Yellow evening primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Yellow evening primrose is a California native perennial found in the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, Modoc Plateau, and northern Sierra Nevada in sagebrush scrub and pinyon-juniper woodland at elevations of 900 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces bright yellow flowers that fade to pale orange, with petals 10 to 30 millimeters long. Growing with a rosetted habit and essentially stemless, it develops a fleshy taproot and forms oblanceolate to oblong leaves 3 to 36 centimeters long with irregular pinnate lobes. Its leaves are somewhat fleshy with glandular and minute strigose hairs, creating a distinctive appearance in its dry, clay-based habitats. The elongated fruit is 10 to 40 millimeters long, narrowly ovate to elliptic, with small wings 2 to 6 millimeters wide.

Habitat: Drying depressions, streambanks, generally clay soils, sagebrush scrub to pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 900-1600 m

Bioregions: CaR, n SNH, MP

California counties: Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Placer

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