Hi, This plant is growing in a perennial garden in Nova Scotia. Low growing and reminds me of a evening primrose. However, the primrose I have seems to have small shallow roots and this plant has tough, trailing, deep roots. This is appearing everywhere at least 6 feet away from the primrose. Coming up in single plants are shown in photo. I'm not sure if it is something I planted that is spreading rapidly, or if it is a weed?. any suggestions are most welcome! :o)
I think you're on the right track about the primrose. This looks just like my Oenothera speciosa...Sundrops. It blooms in the day. It also spreads like crazy and has rather deep roots for being so small.
Well...not all Oenothera are evening primroses. Some are day bloomers. And several go by the primrose name. The one we have wild here is the Missouri Primrose (Oenothera missouriensis). But you're absolutely correct about using common names, which is why you'll nearly always see me use the Latin if I know it (or if I can google it).
Common names do have a life of their own, but I have noticed on internet chats a tendency to call the genus Oenothera "primrose" which I think at least part of the time is based in a lack of awareness of Primula. This will lead on to confusion later if it is never pointed out that there is another, 'true' genus of primroses. Similarly, a local garden writer I know once referred to mullein pink (Lychnis coronaria) in one of her articles as "mullein". When I ran into her later and mentioned that mullein is customarily Verbascum she sputtered "Well, what is it then?" ("it" being the common name of the Lychnis). I think it's better if confusing common names that might possibly get started from a mistake in the print (or other) media like this can be nipped in the bud, if possible.
Ron B don't get me started on common names it's so confusing when people call so many things Lily. Zantedeschia - arum/calla lily, Hedychium - ginger or butterfly lily,Hemerocallis - day lily, Belamcanda - candy lily, Convalria - lily of the valley,it just goes on........I have heard or seen all of these just refered to as 'Lilies'.
Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I will keep a little of it growing and see what happens, the roots are just so different from the Oenothera? that I have growing. Happy Spring!
