Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Oenothera lindheimeri

Common name

Clockweed, Butterfly Bush, Butterfly Flower, White Butterfly

Family

Onagraceae

Where found

Garden escape. Disturbed sites and roadsides. Mainly Sydney and Canberra. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Perennial herb to about 1.5 m high. Stems numerous, hairy with coarse curved hairs. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems. Basal leaves 4–15 cm long, soon withering. Stem leaves 0.5–9 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, tips pointed, margins minutely and often sparsely toothed, wavy. Flowers white, becoming yellow or pink to red as they age, with 4 petals each 8–15 mm long, opening near sunrise. Sepals pink. Flowers in simple or branched spikes to about 80 cm long, 20–30 mm wide. Flowering: summer and autumn.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Oenothera~lindheimeri  (accessed 23 January, 2021)