Tetrapteron palmeri

Palmer's evening primrose

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

Palmer's evening primrose is a California native annual found in southern Gabilan Range, Santa Clara River Valley, western Transverse Ranges including Tejon Pass, peninsular ranges near Jacumba, western and Inyo Mountains, and eastern Mojave Desert in desert flats and sagebrush scrub at elevations of 600 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces pale yellow to white flowers with petals roughly equal to the anthers. Growing with stems up to 20 millimeters tall that are distinctively swollen and peeling, it has a delicate, compact form. Its leaves range from 15 to 55 millimeters long with fine, minute serrations along the edges. The fruit is a distinctive 4-angled, 4-winged structure 5 to 7 millimeters long, which becomes leathery and slowly splits open when mature.

Habitat: Desert flats, sagebrush scrub

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 600-1400 m

Bioregions: s GV, SCoRI, WTR (Tejon Pass), PR (Jacumba), W&ampI, DMoj

California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Inyo, 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.