Oenothera primiveris

Yellow desert evening primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

Yellow desert evening primrose is a California native annual found in the Mojave Desert bioregion in sandy flats, low hills, dune margins, and arroyos at elevations of 30 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces bright yellow flowers that fade to red-purple or orange, measuring 6 to 40 millimeters across. Growing with minimal stems or occasionally reaching up to 35 centimeters tall, this rosetted plant has a distinctive strigose and sometimes glandular appearance. Its leaves are 4 to 28 centimeters long, oblanceolate with wavy-dentate edges or occasionally 1 to 2-pinnately lobed, ranging from green to gray-green. The fruit is lanceolate to ovate, measuring 10 to 60 millimeters long and can be straight, curved, or S-shaped.

Habitat: Sandy flats, low hills, dune margins, arroyos

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 30-1400 m

Bioregions: D

California counties: San Bernardino, Inyo, Kern, Riverside, Imperial, Mono

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