Oenothera deltoides

 Oenothera deltoides (dune evening primrose, birdcage evening primrose) ( )

Onagraceae

• One of the most spectacular wildflowers of sandy soils and sand dunes throughout the California deserts is dune evening primrose. It has showy, large, and fragrant white flowers that turn pinkish with age. This herbaceous perennial often grows in profusion on lower dune slopes-presenting a spectacular wildflower display. The name evening primrose comes from the temporal pattern where flowers open in the evening for mot pollinators and close again in mid-morning. Other common names for the primrose are desert lantern and birdcage primrose (because of the unusual form of the dried flowering stalk). The flower stalk has radiating branches extending in all directions along the ground. At the end of the spring flowering season, the greenish branches eventually dry and curl up upward toward the central axis. Woody seed capsules that split into our prongs now occupy the positions where the large flowers used to be. This entire dried structure, up to a foot long, resemble a birdcage
• The growth form of dune evening primrose is different than that of California evening primrose in being a loose rosette up to 3 feet in diameter and 1 foot tall in the enter. It is widely distributed across our desert regions on sandy slopes and dunes. When the plants die the stems curl upward and form a birdcage giving rite to second common name of birdcage evening primrose. "Califorina Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."
• . "Califoria Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."