General: California Evening Primrose (Oenothera avita) is a perennial forb that blooms in the spring with big, white flowers. The plant is quite variable, and it can consist simply of a basal rosette of leaves or it can be a 2-ft high bush. The leaves can be short and triangular or long with wavy margins, and they can be hairless or hairy. White flowers age to pink.

In the southern deserts, this species of Evening Primrose is recognized by (in this order): white flowers, nodding buds, perennial, and leaves with wavy margins. Fresh stems grow upright and bushy or horizontal and spreading on the ground. The most similar species, Birdcage Evening Primrose, is an annual that has long, spreading stems that hug the ground until they begin to dry out and curl up to form the birdcage.

California Evening Primrose is a common component of vegetation communities in dry, well-drained sandy and gravely areas on bajadas into the lower mountains in the Lower Sonoran (Creosote-Bursage Flats) and Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zones.

Around Las Vegas, look for California Evening Primrose at Red Rock Canyon NCA (First Creek Trail is good) or in Mojave National Preserve.

Family: Evening Primrose (Onagraceae). Formerly Oenothera californica.