Oenothera tetragonaRoth

WFO wfo-0001087767 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Brian Henderson
fig. a Brian Henderson, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-16 / obs. 136709684
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Brian Henderson
fig. b Brian Henderson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 136709669
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Bob Schwartz
fig. c Bob Schwartz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 84603517
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Mark Richman
fig. d Mark Richman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 79064598
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Lena Struwe
fig. e Lena Struwe, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 20810689
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Bob Schwartz
fig. f Bob Schwartz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 84603551
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Mark Richman
fig. g Mark Richman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 79064614
Oenothera tetragona, photographed by Lena Struwe
fig. h Lena Struwe, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 20810696

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Oenothera tetragona is native: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia AlabamaConnecticutGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMissouriNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaOhioOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSouth CarolinaTennesseeVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Oenothera tetragona, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Michigan MIC
Missouri MSO
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 31 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Kneiffia fraseri Spach
  • Kneiffia glauca (Michx.) Spach
  • Kneiffia latifolia Rydb.
  • Kneiffia serotina (Lehm.) Bartl.
  • Kneiffia tetragona (Roth) Pennell
  • Kneiffia tetragona var. hybrida Pennell
  • Oenothera ambigua (Nutt.) Spreng.
  • Oenothera canadensis Goldie
  • Oenothera fraseri Pursh
  • Oenothera fruticosa f. incana (Nutt.) Voss
  • Oenothera fruticosa subsp. glauca (Michx.) Straley
  • Oenothera fruticosa subsp. tetragona (Roth) W.L.Wagner
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. ambigua Nutt.
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. differta Millsp.
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. fraseri (Pursh) Hook.
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. glauca (Michx.) H.Lév.
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. incana (Nutt.) Hook.
  • Oenothera fruticosa var. maculata H.Lév.
  • Oenothera glauca Michx.
  • Oenothera glauca f. fraseri (Pursh) Voss
  • Oenothera glauca var. fraseri (Pursh) Torr. & A.Gray
  • Oenothera hybrida Michx.
  • Oenothera hybrida var. ambigua S.F.Blake
  • Oenothera incana Nutt.

and 7 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.