Selected Plants of Navajo Rangelands
Evening primrose
Tł’é’yiigáhii
(a.k.a. Tufted evening primrose, stemless primrose, fragrant evening primrose, white stemless evening primrose, gumbo lily)
Evening primrose's flowers open late in the day, then turn pink and wilt the following morning. It can grow up to one foot tall, is nearly stemless, and grows from a thick taproot. It blooms April to September.
The flowers are white or yellow with four heart-shaped petals and eight yellow stamens. Flowers can measure up to three inches across and have a wonderful fragrance.
Rough seedpods, about one inch long, form soon after flowering. Leaves grow in a basal rosette. They are lance-shaped and toothed, growing up to 12 inches in length. The leaves are crinkly, gray-green, and fuzzy.
Evening primrose is found in piñon-juniper woodlands and shadscale scrub communities. It is common on roadsides, and is often abundant on steep, dry slopes. It occurs at elevations of 2,980 to 9,500 feet. It likes well-drained, rocky, sandy soils.
Cattle seem to avoid evening primrose. Young shoots and roots of some evening primroses are eaten by humans.
*Description courtesy of Utah State University's Range Plants of Utah.
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