Pale primrose

Description

Camissoniopsis pallida (Synonyms: Camissonia pallida) is a low growing, yellow-flowered annual plant in the evening primrose family, Onagraceae.  It is known by the common names pale primrose  or pale yellow suncup. It is native to the desert and scrub habitat of the region where Arizona, California, and Nevada meet. It is a roughly hairy annual herb growing in a low patch on the ground, sometimes producing an erect stem from the basal rosette. The herbage is gray-green to reddish green. The leaves are lance-shaped and up to 3 centimeters long. The nodding inflorescence produces flowers with yellow petals 2 to 13 millimeters long, each with small red markings near the bases. The fruit is a straight to tightly coiled capsule. Camissonia, sometimes commonly known as sun cup or sundrop, is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the evening primrose family Onagraceae. A total of 12 species are known, nearly all from western North America, especially in the California Floristic Province, but also one from South America. Previous circumscriptions of the genus had recognized up to 62 species before it was split among other closely related genera. The flowers generally open at dawn and maybe yellow, white, or lavender, often with darker shades at the base. They are usually cup-shaped, thus the common name. Formerly included in Oenothera, the species of Camissonia are distinguished by having a club- or head-shaped stigma, instead of the 4-part-divided stigma of Oenothera or Clarkia. Camissonia species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Schinia cupes and Schinia deserticola, both of which feed on C. claviformis, the latter exclusively. The genus is named after the botanist Adelbert von Chamisso.