Evening Primrose

Evening primrose at the curb of the street

 
Evening primrose (Oenothera) is a showy plant that belongs to Evening Primrose family (Onagraceae). The characteristic features of this family are flowers with 4 petals and stigma with X shape at the tip. The plant is edible: young roots can be cooked and young leaves eaten in salad.

Flowers of an Oenothera usually open within about a minute. They are supposed to open in the evening but the plant in the photograph was always open during the day whenever I was passing by.

Evening primrose flower. Notice the cross at the end of the stigma

The leaves grow in a basal rosette then spiral along the stem. 

Evening primrose leaves in a basal rosette

Note: Shortly after the picture was taken, someone had destroyed the plant that had not been doing any harm. The plant was growing at the curb and only added nice colour to the environment. I might add that the plant is rather rare and it's sad to see this unique and rarely seen plant mindlessly destroyed for no apparent reason.