Oenothera biennis Linnaeus var. hirsutissima A. Gray ex S. Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 8: 579, 603. 1873; O. elata var. hirsutissima (A. Gray ex S. Watson) Cronquist; O. elata subsp. texensis W. Dietrich &W. L. Wagner; O. grisea (Bartlett) Rostanski; O. hewettii (Cockerell) Cockerell ex A. W. Hill; O. hirsutissima (A. Gray ex S. Watson) de Vries; O. hookeri Torrey & A. Gray subsp. angustifolia (R. R. Gates) Munz; O. hookeri var. angustifolia R. R. Gates; O. hookeri subsp. grisea (Bartlett) Munz; O. hookeri var. grisea (Bartlett) Munz; O. hookeri subsp. hewettii Cockerell; O. hookeri var. hewettii (Cockerell) R. R. Gates; O. hookeri subsp. hirsutissima (A. Gray ex S. Watson) Munz; O. hookeri var. hirsutissima (A. Gray ex S. Watson) Munz; O. hookeri var. irrigua (Wooton & Standley) R. R. Gates; O. hookeri subsp. ornata (A. Nelson) Munz; O. hookeri var. ornata (A. Nelson) Munz; O. hookeri var. semiglabra R. R. Gates; O. hookeri var. simsiana (Seringe) R. R. Gates; O. hookeri subsp. venusta (Bartlett) Munz; O. hookeri var. venusta (Bartlett) Munz; O. irrigua Wooton & Standley; O. jepsonii Greene; O. macbrideae (A. Nelson) R. R. Gates; O. ornata (A. Nelson) R. R. Gates; O. simsiana Seringe; O. venusta Bartlett; O. venusta var. grisea Bartlett; Onagra macbrideae A. Nelson; O. ornata A. Nelson

Herbs strigillose, usually also villous, with appressed or spreading hairs, sometimes these with red-pustulate bases, distally sometimes also glandular puberulent. Flowers: buds green to yellowish green, red-striped, or sometimes red throughout, with free tips 2–7 mm; petals 30–47(–55) mm; anthers 8–15(–22) mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering (Apr–)Jul–Sep(–Oct). Montane sites along streams, mesic meadows, roadsides, near permanent or seasonally wet sites, ditch banks, riverbanks, flood plains, fallow agricultural land; 10–3000 m; Ariz., Calif., Colo., Idaho, Kans., Nev., N.Mex., Okla., Oreg., Tex., Utah, Wash.; Mexico (n Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora).

Subspecies hirsutissima occurs throughout much of the western United States, but with only scattered populations in Oklahoma (Custer, Logan, and McCurtain counties) and in eastern Texas (Anderson, Brazos, and Leon counties) and western Texas (Brewster, Culberson, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties).

Onagra spectabilis Spach is an illegitimate name as is Oenothera corymbosa Sims 1818, not Lamarck 1798, and both pertain here.