Evening Primrose

It's always so rewarding to complete a new identification, especially one that has been in the works for weeks. While browsing through Wildflowers In Winter last night, I came upon a wonderful pen and ink drawing of Evening Primrose, Oenothera biennis, presented as a dried plant.

Here we see the second and final year's growth. First year is for some basal leaves and a stalk. Second year is when flowers and seed pods come about.

It gets its name from the behavior of only fully opening yellow flowers in the evening.

Finding the seed pods open, it's unclear just how many seeds there are. I found quite a few in my workspace before realizing that I was probably dumping them out! That's when I peeled back a pod for a shot of a few seeds nestled in the base of a pod.