Oenothera rosea L'H‚r., Onagraceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: fen hua yue jian cao

English: pink evening-primrose, rose evening primrose, rose evening-primrose, rose of Mexico, rosy evening-primrose

Spanish: enotera rosada

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Herbs ascending to decumbent, perennial, rhizomatous and sometimes suffrutescent from woody caudex, rarely with basal rosette. Stems 7-65 cm, simple or branched, strigillose, sometimes with longer spreading hairs. Leaves green, with inconspicuous veins, glabrous to sparsely strigillose; petioles 3-20 mm; basal blade 2-5 x 0.5-2 cm; cauline blade elliptic to oblanceolate or oblong-ovate, 1-6 x 0.4-2.5 cm, base attenuate, margin subentire to coarsely dentate, sometimes sinuate-pinnatifid at leaf base, apex acute to obtuse. Inflorescence a lax open simple raceme. Flowers open near sunrise; floral tube 4-10 mm. Sepals 5-10 mm, with free tips 0.4-1 mm. Petals pink to rose-purple, 5-12 mm. Anthers 2-3.5 mm; pollen ca. 50% fertile. Ovary usually densely strigillose; stigma surrounded by anthers. Capsules clavate or narrowly obovoid, 4-12 mm, valves angled or weakly winged, attenuate to slender sterile stipe (pedicel) 5-20 mm. Seeds in several indistinct rows per locule, brown with dark spot at each end, obovoid, 0.5-1.2 mm, finely papillose"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In China, "disturbed habitats along creeks and in low weedy places; 1000-2000 m"  (Flora of China online).  "In Chile this species grows in the following environmental conditions:  Low altitude, interior valleys; coastal mountains, 500-2000 m; coastal areas, 0-500 m. Dry, arid areas, with long drought periods of 6-10 months, precipitations of 100-300 mm. are concentrated in winter; somewhat dry areas where the drought may last 3-5 months, precipitations of 400-800 mm. are concentrated in winter. Fully exposed to the sun, level areas or slopes facing north"  (Chileflora).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  United States (Texas), Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru; naturalized elsewhere (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) "A widespread weed of roadsides, open ground, etc., also among ruins of buildings on the island".
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más a Tierra (Robinson Crusoe Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 555)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Atkinson, Rachel/Sawyer, John (2011)
Chile (offshore islands) Juan Fernández Islands	Isla Más Afuera (Alejandro Selkirk Island)	introduced invasive	Danton, Philippe/Perrier, Christophe/Martinez Reyes, Guido (2006) (p. 555)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	New South Wales	introduced invasive cultivated	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2013) "Cultivated widely and frequently naturalized".
Australia Australia (continental)	Queensland	introduced invasive cultivated	National Herbarium of New South Wales (2013) "Cultivated widely and frequently naturalized".
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Costa Rica (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
Central America Central America (Pacific rim)	Guatemala (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	introduced	Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong (2013)
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 186)
Mexico Mexico	Mexico (United Mexican States)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 911) "A casual garden escape, waste places".
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Chile (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Belov, Michail (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Ecuador (Republic of) (continental)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
South America (Pacific rim) South America (Pacific rim)	Perú (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2013)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2013) Arizona, New Mexico, Texas

Control:  If you know of control methods for Oenothera rosea, please let us know.