Pink Evening Primrose - One of Texas' Wild Flowers

Best viewed large. The Pink Evening Primrose (Oenothera speciosa Nutt.)

is actually an evening flower in its northern regions as shown in its name. But in Texas, it blooms in the morning and stays open all day long. It's known by many names including Mexican evening primrose, Showy primrose, Pink ladies, Buttercups, and Pink buttercups. There can be large clusters of these bright pink flowers. In fields of bluebonnets, and Indian paint brushes, these bright pink flowers stand out. But perhaps they are most beautiful up close with the darker pink veins running through the petals. This flower is also unusual with its cross-shaped white stigma sitting atop its pistil. The stigma rises high above the stamen to try to capture pollen from other plants. As bees and other pollinators fly into and climb around to get to the stamen for their pollen, they also deposit pollen on the stigma. In the large view, you can see individual grains of pollen already deposited on the stigma.

 

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