Beyond the Weeds: Cutleaf Evening Primrose (Oenothera laciniata)

It wasn’t long after we first moved to Florida that I started noticing little yellow flowers that bloomed at night through the morning and were largely gone by the afternoon. I didn’t pay it much attention, assuming it was just a “weed”. Later, I noticed that this low-growing plant had started making inroads across sections of my yard, but it seemed like mowing kept it manageable and we had bare spots left over from when the rehabbers redid the home before we bought it, so I wasn’t super worried about it. Today, it’s everywhere and I love it. 

I’m talking about what a lot of people, including UF/IFAS (shame on you) classify as an aggressive weed. Cutleaf evening primrose (or cut-leaved, if you prefer the older nomenclature) is a native wildflower, pollinator favorite (including native bees), and host plant for several species, including the common buckeye and Gulf fritillary. It’s also a medicinal plant, and the Cherokee and other Native American tribes used it to treat skin inflammation and wounds. It seeds also have the same properties as its cousin evening primrose (Oenothera biennia) and can be used to treat menopause and menstrual symptoms.

Cutleaf evening primrose can be used as a ground cover, but it can get up to 18 inches tall. It works well in mixed plantings. I’m currently letting it and frogfruit take over the front yard since both hold up well to foot traffic and mowing. It self-seeds readily, and it can also be propagated by root division. Saying that, I haven’t had any need to manually spread it. It’s doing a great job of that all on its own. 

If you want more about cutleaf evening primrose, check out the entry from the FNPS, as well as the information in the Florida Plant Atlas.