The wet spring has produced another bumper crop of wildflowers in the foothills. Some of the showiest flowers I’ve seen this year are both in the evening-primrose family (Onegraceae) — not to be confused with the primrose family (Primulaceae). That is why there is a hyphen in evening-primrose — to indicate that it’s borrowing the name.

Yellow stemless evening-primrose photographed on Dinosaur Ridge.

Scarlet gaura, in the evening-primrose family,  photographed at Apex Park.

Evening-primroses are flowers of fours — four petals, four sepals at the base of the petals, and a four lobed stigma that leads to a four lobed ovary, two times four equals eight stamens that produce pollen.

scarlet gaura

They’re a little out of focus, but you can just see the yellow lobes of the stigma on the ends of the long, tube-like styles on this scarlet gaura.

Yellow stemless evening-primrose, with a star-like four-lobed stigma.

And you can see the long arms on the stigma at the top of the flower of this yellow evening-primrose.

I realize that I’ve been more technical than most of you really care about. What’s important is that you get out and enjoy the flower show.