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Oenothera villosa
Also called Evening primrose, Hairy eveningprimrose, Hairy Yellow Evening Primrose, Villous Evening Primrose, Villose Evening Primrose, Western Yellow Evening Primrose
Hairy evening primrose is a hairy, erect biennial wildflower of open and disturbed ground across much of North America, growing 3 to 6 feet tall. It is grown mainly as a native pollinator plant for butterflies and other insects.
Oenothera villosa, the hairy evening primrose, is a species of flowering plant in the family Onagraceae. It is native to nearly all of the United States (except Hawaii, Alaska, Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina), and to all Canadian provinces and the Northwest Territories. It has been introduced to cool and cold-temperate regions worldwide. An erect biennial reaching 3–6 feet (0.91–1.83 m), it is typically found in open areas and disturbed situations.
This plant is not as common for use as some other garden or culinary plants, but it has some notable ones. A few people have planted Oenothera Villosa in gardens. This plant can be used to attract butterflies (lepidopterans) and other pollinating insects/birds. The plant has a chemical compound omega fatty-acid called Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) that is found in the oil called Evening Primrose Oil (EPO). This oil from a few of the closely related primrose plants including the hairy evening primrose is thought to be an ingredient that is active in some therapeutic medicine. This oil is found in the seeds of this primrose plant. The oil is being used to treat some conditions/disorders that can be targeted by using these helpful omega fatty acids found in the oil. However, the accuracy and efficacy of this oil actually relieving and treating some of these conditions is still being debated among medical people as of 2007.
Common evening primrose · Tufted Evening Primrose · Antioch Dunes evening primrose · Birdcage evening primrose · Beach evening primrose · Hooker's evening primrose · Narrowleaf evening primrose · Redsepal evening primrose · Cutleaf evening primrose · Lindheimer's Beeblossom · Threadleaf evening primrose · Longstem evening primrose
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Oenothera villosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
