Foothills, montane. Wet meadows and roadsides. Summer.
Taylor Mesa Road, July 28, 2005.

This very showy Evening Primrose commonly grows over three feet tall (sometimes to five feet) and has two-to-three inch bright yellow flowers. 

It also has a half dozen or more main stems, vertical and leaning outward, so it is very wide and even more obvious.  Flowers fade to orange with the heat of the sun.

Latin gives us both "elata" ("tall") and "hirsutissima" ("hairy"  --  notice the hairy buds in the picture below).  This plant was first collected by Augustus Fendler near Santa Fe in 1847 and was named by Asa Gray in 1849.  (More biographical information.)