Oenothera arguta Greene; O. brachysepala Spach; O. bracteata Philippi; O. bracteata var. glabrescens (Philippi) Reiche; O. glabrescens Philippi; O. mollissima Linnaeus subsp. propinqua (Spach) Thellung; O. mollissima var. valdiviana (Philippi) Reiche; O. propinqua Spach; O. propinqua var. sparsiflora Philippi; O. stricta var. propinqua (Spach) Reiche; O. valdiviana Philippi; Onagra arguta (Greene) Small

Herbs annual or biennial, strigillose, especially proxi­mally, also villous and glandular puberulent. Stems erect or ascending, 25–100 cm. Leaves in a basal rosette and cauline, basal 10–15 × 0.8–1.3 cm, cauline 6–10 × 0.6–1 cm; blade very narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate or lanceolate, margins slightly wavy, serrate. Flowers: buds with free tips 1–3 mm; floral tube 20–45 mm; sepals 14–20 mm; petals yellow, fading reddish orange, 15–25(–35) mm; filaments 10–20 mm, anthers 7–11 mm; style 30–60 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. Capsules 30–40 mm, subtending bract not adnate to capsule base. Seeds 1.4–1.8 × 0.5–0.7 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering Apr–May. Open, disturbed sites; 10–500 m; introduced; Calif.; South America (Chile); introduced also widely in temperate, semiarid regions.

Subspecies stricta has been collected in several counties near the coast in California (Monterey, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz counties) a few times, but the most recent collections are from 1953 and 1995, and it may no longer be naturalized in California. It is naturalized widely in temperate, semiarid areas.