Oenothera californica
From California Natives Wiki
Species Name: Oenothera californica
Common Name: California Primrose
- Fragrant large flowers on a spreading, low silvery plant. Superb accent plant on dry, hot south-west slopes. Needs little water once established.
- Plant Family: Onagraceae
- Plant Type: Perennial
- Height by Width: 5"h x 1'w
- Growth Habit: Low, dense
- Deciduous/Evergreen: Deciduous
- Growth Rate: Fast
- Sun Exposure: Full sun
- Soil Preference: Sandy or Rocky
- Water Requirements: Dry to semi dry
- Cold Hardy to: To 15 degrees
- Flower Season: Spring-Summer
- Flower Color: White-Pink
- Endangered?: Not listed
- Distribution: Central West, Southwest, Eastern Sierra Nevada, Deserts
- Natural Habitat: Sandy or gravelly areas dunes, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodland or ponderosa pine woodland below 8000'
- Care and Maintenance
- History
- Introduced into cultivation in California by Theodore Payne.
- From California Native Plants, Theodore Payne's 1941 catalog: "Foliage ashy gray. Flowers white about 2 inches across, fragrant, opening in the late afternoon and remaining open for a few hours in the morning, and turning pink when fading. Grows in loose sandy soil spreading from a running root system, soon forming large clumps. Very desirable for dry hot situations. Gallon cans, 50c."
- Other Names
- References
- Bornstein, Carol, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien. California Native Plants for the Garden. Los Olivos, CA: Cachuma Press. 2005.
- Links
