Subdivisions of the genus Oenothera in the Onagraceae (evening primrose) family :
Oenothera sect. Angora (Spach) W.L.Wagner & Hoch 2007 – western North America in dry, sandy soils in deserts, grasslands, and forest openings, up to 2000 m. elevation.
Oenothera sect. Calylophus (Spach) W. L. Wagner & Hoch 2007 – in North American Great Plains and south to central Mexico.
Oenothera sect. Contortae W.L.Wagner 1987 – Sierra Nevadas of California, extending just into western Nevada.
Oenothera sect. Eremia W.L.Wagner 1986 – western North America, with a distribution in the Chihuahuan, Mojave, and Sonoran deserts.
Oenothera sect. Gaura (L.) W.L.Wagner & Hoch 2007 – beeblossom (includes most of the taxa formerly placed in genus Gaura)
Oenothera sect. Gauropsis (Torrey & Frémont) W.L.Wagner 1985 – Wyoming, western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas and the Texas Panhandle in the U.S. High Plains.
Oenothera sect. Hartmannia (Spach) W. L. Wagner & Hoch 2007 – Generally in Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. But O. speciosa extends into the U.S. Central Plains, and O. rosea extends to the Caribbean, and northern South America.
Oenothera sect. Kleinia Munz 1965 – distributed over the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and southern portions of the Great Basin deserts to the Great Plains, from southern Utah to southeastern Montana and western North Dakota, and northern Mexico.