Mojave sun cups is a slender-stemmed, erect and usually well-branched annual that as its name implies is often found in the Mojave Desert but is not confined to that area, also inhabiting cismontane grasslands and creosote bush scrub from Inyo Co. to interior San Diego Co. to an elevation of perhaps 3000'.  It has whitish, peeling stems and linear, serrulate leaves to slightly more than an inch long.  The sepals are reflexed in pairs and the four petals are yellow with 1-2 red dots at the base and are about 3/4" long.  The stamens are attached to the perianth segments, with the episepalous stamens longer than the epipetalous ones.  The stigma extends well beyond the anthers.  The fruit is a linear, cylindrical, sessile capsule to 1-1/2" long.  Mojave sun cups, or tooth-leaved primrose, blooms from March to May.  It was formerly named Oenothera campestris or Oenothera dentata, and this is probably ssp. campestris. The above picture is from Joshua Tree National Park.

Click here for Latin name derivations: 1) Camissonia 2) campestris.
Pronunciation: kam-is-OWN-ee-a kam-PES-tris.
Click here for Botanical Term Meanings.