Wildflower (forb) · Onagraceae
Common evening primrose
Oenothera biennis
Common evening primrose is recorded as native to 41 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,365 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Common evening primrose at a glance
- Native in
- 1,365 counties, across 41 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 5 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Common evening primrose is recorded as native to 41 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,365 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,365 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Arkansas 1 county
- California 2 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 29 counties
- Georgia 37 counties
- Illinois 102 counties
- Indiana 63 counties
- Iowa 18 counties
- Kansas 64 counties
- Kentucky 71 counties
- Louisiana 48 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 48 counties
- Minnesota 61 counties
- Mississippi 36 counties
- Missouri 64 counties
- Montana 17 counties
- Nebraska 35 counties
- Nevada 1 county
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 32 counties
- North Carolina 70 counties
- North Dakota 4 counties
- Ohio 78 counties
- Oklahoma 12 counties
- Oregon 10 counties
- Pennsylvania 58 counties
- South Carolina 27 counties
- South Dakota 17 counties
- Tennessee 45 counties
- Texas 5 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 100 counties
- Washington 10 counties
- West Virginia 48 counties
- Wisconsin 68 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Biennial
- Mature height
- 5 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Short
- Active growth period
- Spring, Summer, Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 20 to 55 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 7
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 120
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Onagraceae
- PLANTS symbol
- OEBI
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Oenothera biennis (PLANTS symbol OEBI).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources