Common Evening Primrose
Order: Mytales
Family: Onagraceae
Genus: Oenothera
Species: O. biennis
General Characteristics: At the top of a leafy stalk bloom lemon-scented, large yellow flowers. Stem hairy, often purple-tinged. King’s cure-all or common evening primrose is an erect, 2-6 ft. biennial with leafy, branched stems from a basal rosette. The bright-yellow, four-petaled flowers, up to 2 inches across, open at night. These fragrant flowers occur in a many-flowered, terminal spike.
The flowers of this night-flowering biennial open in the evening and close by noon. The plant takes 2 years to complete its life cycle, with basal leaves becoming established the first year, and flowering occurring the second. The roots are edible, and the seeds are important as bird feed. Most of the evening-primroses have yellow flowers. Showy Evening-primrose (O. speciosa) has pink or white flowers.
Special Adaptations: The flowers of this plant attract a variety of moths. Small mammals eat the roots and leaves of young plants. Birds eat the seeds. Deer graze older plants.
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