Oenothera drummondii, Beach evening primrose,
Hebrew: נר-הלילה החופי, Arabic: الأخدرية

Scientific name:  Oenothera drummondii Hook.
Common name:  Beach evening-primrose
Hebrew name:  נר-הלילה החופי
Arabic name:  الأخدرية
Family:  Onagraceae, נר-הלילה

Wild Flowers in the Holy Land

Life form:  Chamaephyte
Stems:  Erect to procumbent; 10-50 cm tall, stiff, simple or branched, strigillose, glandular puberulous on inflorescence
Leaves:  Alternate, entire
Flowers:  Yellow; Perfect, actinomorphic, 4-merous, with hypanthium; carpels syncarpous, ovary inferior; ovules often numerous, axile or parietal; pollen sometimes with viscin threads
Fruits / pods:  Capsules cylindric, sessile
Flowering Period:   April, May, June, July, August, September
Habitat:   Mediterranean strand
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands
Chorotype:   American
Summer shedding:  Perennating

Oenothera drummondii, Beach evening primrose, נר-הלילה החופי


Derivation of the botanical name:
Oenothera, Greek, oinos, wine; thera, booty; wine catcher. The root when eatenh was supposed to increase one's capacity for wine.
drummondii, named after Thomas Drummond (1790-1835), a Scottish naturalist.
The Hebrew Name: נר הלילה, Ner-HaLaila, Night candle, the flowers open at night and at dusk they are visible in the distance hence their Hebrew name "Night candle".
  • The standard author abbreviation Hook. is used to indicate William Jackson Hooker (1785 – 1865),an English systematic botanist and organiser.
Flowers open near sunset, one per stem per day.
The oil from the Oenothera contains gamma-linoleic acid "(GLA), an unsaturated fatty acid, which assists the production of hormonlike substances. The herb is used internally for e.g. premenstrual and menopausal symptoms.

Israel wildflowers: Oenothera drummondii, Beach evening primrose, נר-הלילה החופי


Blommor i Israel: Oenothera drummondii, Beach evening primrose, נר-הלילה החופי