Stemless Evening Primrose

Oenothera triloba

Found in limestone glades, blackbelt prairies, playas, floodplains; eastwards also in disturbed areas. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 59%

Height: Up to about 8 inches
Light: Sun
Soil moisture: Dry to moist

No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…

At a glance

Life cycle: Annual

Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves · Bloom

Bloom: recorded only in the FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team) phone app (app page).

Spread and leaves: no source found yet.

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 1 Virginia county.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 4

Limestone cedar glade. Shown: Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Cedar glade in the Pennyroyal Plain, Simpson County, Mason Brock (Masebrock), undated. Public domain. Source record.

Barrens grassland after a prescribed fire. Shown: Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky, a neighboring state.Barrens native plants returning after prescribed fire, September 2020, NPS Photo / Rick Olson, September 2020. Public domain. Source record.

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

17CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA

Genus host records with ranges including VA · Oenothera

Amphion floridensisNessus Sphinx
Apantesis argeArge Tiger Moth
Atroposia oenotheranaPrimrose Cochylid
Desmia funeralisGrape Leaffolder Moth
Eudryas unioPearly Wood-Nymph
Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
Hyles lineataWhite-Lined Sphinx
Mompha circumscriptellaCircumscript Mompha
Mompha eloisellaRed-Streaked Mompha
Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer

Show all 17

Schinia floridaPrimrose Flower Moth, Evening Primrose Flower Moth
Spargania magnoliataDouble-Banded Carpet
Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
Dichomeris agonia
Mompha brevivittella
Mompha stellella

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

—BeesSoutheastern regional records

4Specialist beesPollen specialists

Pollen specialists · Oenothera

Lasioglossum aberrans
Lasioglossum lusorium
Lasioglossum oenotherae
Melissodes fimbriatus

Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0

5BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Oenothera

Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove

Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)

Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family: Onagraceae
Flower color: Orange or yellow

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Flower color · “Orange or yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Height · “Up to about 8 inches” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Life cycle · “Annual” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Light · “Sun” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Soil · “Dry; Moist (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia

Conservation status

Virginia rank	SNA
Global rank	Not available
VA status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source

Native alternatives

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