Oenothera parvula Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 511. 1840; O. contorta Douglas var. flexuosa (A. Nelson) Munz; Sphaerostigma contortum (Douglas) Walpers var. flexuosum A. Nelson; S. filiforme A. Nelson; S. flexuosum (A. Nelson) Rydberg; S. parvulum (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) Walpers

Herbs usually glabrous or densely strigillose, rarely villous (mostly proximally), also often sparsely glan­dular puberulent, especially distally. Stems erect, slender, wiry, often branched, 2–15 cm. Leaves: proximalmost not clustered near base; blade linear or linear-filiform, 1–3 × 0.04–0.1 cm, base attenuate, margins subentire, apex acute. Flowers opening near sunrise; floral tube 1.3–2 mm, glabrate; sepals 1.5–2.5 mm, reflexed separately; petals 1.5–3.6 mm, without red dots at base; filaments 0.5–1 mm, anthers 0.3–0.6 mm, pollen with less than 5% of grains 4- or 5-pored; style 1.5–3 mm, stigma surrounded by anthers at anthesis. Capsules 15–28 × 0.6–1 mm; pedicel 0–2 mm. Seeds 0.7–0.8 × 0.4 mm. 2n = 28.

Flowering Apr–Jun. Sandy soils, usually with sagebrush scrub; 100–2700 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Mont., Nev., N.Mex., Oreg., Utah, Wash., Wyo.

P. H. Raven (1969) determined that Camissonia parvula is a self-compatible tetraploid and autogamous. The species is closely related to C. kernensis and C. pubens.