Oenothera fruticosa L. ssp. fruticosa

Locations ofOenothera fruticosa L. ssp. fruticosa in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Onagraceae
Botanical Name
Oenothera fruticosa L. ssp. fruticosa
Common Name
Narrow-leaf Sundrops, Southern Sundrops
Synonym(s)
Oenothera fruticosa L.
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Oenothera fruiticosa L.
Comments
Given the provisional nature of Weakley's treatment (2012 Draft Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States), with "further revisions likely" in this section of the genus, we have elected to stay with Straley's treatment (1977, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gar. 64) of this taxon and O. tetragona as subspecies of O. fruticosa.

Treated as a species, O. fruticosa s.s. has three varieties in Virginia, according to Weakley, with four vars. being recognized under O. tetragona, two of them perhaps more closely related to O. fruticosa (see Comments under O. fruticosa ssp. glauca). Given the frequent difficulties of distinguishing just two taxa in the O. fruticosa / tetragona complex, we will resist further splitting until additional field and herbarium studies can be done.
Habitat
Mesic to dry forests and woodlands, barrens, outcrops, clearings, peaty swales, ditches, fields, and roadsides. Frequent to common throughout, but apparently absent from far sw. Virginia.
Native Status
Native

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