Explore Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Can't find the answer in our existing FAQs, submit a question to Mr. Smarty Plants.
Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.
rate this answer
Tuesday - May 13, 2008
From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: General Botany
Title: Pure white primroses (Oenothera speciosa)
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Hello MS. Smarty Plants! I have wildflowers instead of grass in my backyard (mow once a year and it's spectacularly beautiful) and I noticed some pure white primroses (the rest are all pink or with light shading of pink but there are a few plants that are absolutely purely white except the yellow in the middle). I'm writing to you just in case you know of someone who has been trying to develop a white primrose or someone that would be interested in such a phenomenon. If not, I will enjoy them by myself, but thought that I should put the information out there that a pure white primrose exists in Austin.ANSWER:
Thank you for letting us know about your white Oenothera speciosa (pink evening primrose), but as startling as they are to see the first time, they are not very rare. In large colonies of evening primroses you are likely to see white ones among the pinks and it also possible to see colonies with only white ones. There are other varieties with white centers and pink edges on the petals.According to Shinners & Mahler's Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas, the genus Oenothera is "well known for its complicated genetics" so describing how these different color variations arise is not a simple process. R. L. McGregor in Flora of the Great Plains says (according to Shinners & Mahler) that "in the Great Plains, the white evening-opening individuals are diploid," (i.e, have two sets of chromosomes) "while the rose-purple, morning-opening individiuals are tetraploid" (i.e., have four sets of chromosomes).
No matter how complicated the genetics are that produced them, you can enjoy the beauty and variety of your primroses!
More General Botany Questions
Smarty Plants on air purification
September 14, 2005 - What plant purifies the air?
view the full question and answer
How to determine the gender of wax myrtles from the WFC?
February 08, 2010 - Mr.Smarty Plants, have the wax myrtles that are up for sale at the Center's Spring Plant sale been sexed? I need a male plant. How can the sex be determined when the plant is young? Or can it?
view the full question and answer
Is Esperanza a deciduous or an evergreen plant?
March 08, 2009 - I've read that Esperanza/Tecoma Stans is an evergreen. I planted one last year that seemed very healthy, but it dropped its leaves in late fall and looks (at least) dormant now. Will it come back o...
view the full question and answer
Native subarctic plants
March 26, 2008 - I'm doing a project on subarctic things and I have to have subarctic plants in it. I need to know a few and about them. Can you help?
view the full question and answer
Seaweed seed dispensers in Long Island, NY
January 03, 2013 - Several months ago, we found what are probably seaweed seed dispensers. They are dark brown, hard, four sharp points,section where it would have connected to the main plant and an open hole where the...
view the full question and answer
 |
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. Mr. Smarty Plants wants you to be his Facebook friend. Click the Facebook icon to add yourself to Mr. Smarty Plants list of friends. |
