Foothills, montane. Wet meadows and roadsides. Summer.
Taylor Mesa Road, July 28, 2005.

This very showy Evening Primrose commonly grows over three feet tall (sometimes to five feet) and has two-to-three inch bright yellow flowers. 

It also has a half dozen or more main stems, vertical and leaning outward, so it is very wide and even more obvious.  Flowers fade to orange with the heat of the sun.

Latin gives us both "elata" ("tall") and "hirsutissima" ("hairy"  --  notice the hairy buds in the picture at bottom left).  This plant was first collected by Augustus Fendler near Santa Fe in 1847 and was named by Asa Gray in 1849.  (More biographical information about William Jackson Hooker.)

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for  Oenothera elata