Oenothera acaulis
Cav.Perennial herb; stems procumbent, to c. 40 cm long, with dense short hairs. Basal leaves rosetted, oblanceolate, 5–20 cm long, 6–60 mm wide, pinnatifid to lyrate, petiolate; cauline leaves similar to basal leaves, but generally smaller. Flowers single, in leaf axils, actinomorphic, opening near sunset and fading by morning; hypanthium 10–11 mm long, cylindrical to clavate; sepals linear-lanceolate, 25–30 mm long, often failing to separate completely, bent to one side; petals 15–35 mm long, white, fading to pink. Capsule obovoid, c. 10–20 mm long, c. 7 mm wide, covered with fine spreading hairs, 4-winged, wings c. 2–7 mm wide. Flowers Oct.–Nov.
Naturalised in SA. Native to Chile, previously recorded in Victoria on coastal cliffs near Portland, last recorded at this site in 1920 and is presumed not to have persisted here.
Yellow-flowered forms are sometimes grown in cultivation as O. acaulis ‘Aurea’.
