Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Camissonia contorta
contorted pod suncup, twisted suncup
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest and east in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington; British Columbia to Baja California, east to Idaho and Nevada.

Habitat: Sandy soil along the coast and along inland rivers.

Flowers: April-June

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bees

Description:
General:

Low annual, simple to branched and often sprawling, the stem 5-15 cm. tall, spreading-pubescent to glandular-puberulent.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, linear to linear-lanceolate, entire to remotely denticulate, 10-30 mm. long, the floral bracts similar.

Flowers:

Flowers mostly sessile in the floral bracts; calyx tube 1.5-2 mm. long; petals 4, yellow, 2.5-4 mm. long; stamens 8, one set of 4 twice as long as the shorter set; stigma globose; ovary 4-celled, inferior.

Fruits:

Capsule linear, 1 mm. thick and 2-4 cm. long, conspicuously arched to nearly coiled.

Accepted Name:
Camissonia contorta (Douglas) Kearney
Publication: Trans. New York Acad. Sci. 14(3): 37. 1895.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Oenothera contorta Douglas [HC]
Sphaerostigma contortum (Douglas) Walp.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Camissonia contorta in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Camissonia contorta checklist entry

OregonFlora: Camissonia contorta information

E-Flora BC: Camissonia contorta atlas page

CalPhotos: Camissonia contorta photos

31 photographs:
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