Oenothera rosea

Pink evening primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Pink evening primrose is a naturalized perennial herb found in southern California in disturbed places at elevations generally below 500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces rose to rose-purple flowers 5 to 10 millimeters long in axillary clusters. Growing with decumbent to ascending stems 10 to 50 centimeters tall, it forms a rosette when young and is minutely strigose. Its cauline leaves are 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, oblanceolate to elliptic, and generally entire to wavy-dentate. The fruit is elongated, with a stalk-like base 5 to 20 millimeters long and a body 8 to 10 millimeters long that is wider toward the tip.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: generally < 500 m

Bioregions: SCo

California counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Alameda, San Francisco, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Marin, Ventura

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