''Oenothera curtiflora'' (syn. ''Gaura parviflora''), known as velvetweed, velvety gaura, downy gaura, or smallflower gaura, is a species of flowering plant native to the central United States and northern Mexico, from

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

south to

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

and

Nuevo Leon Nuevo is the Spanish word for "new". It may refer to: * Nuevo, California, a town in the state of California * Nuevo (band), featuring singer and musician Peter Godwin * Nuevo (Bayamón), a settlement in Puerto Rico * "Nuevo", Spanish-language vers ...

Taxonomy

The species remains widely known as ''Gaura parviflora'', this name being published in 1830 and for a long time considered the correct name for the species. However, an overlooked but validly published name ''G. mollis'' had been published earlier by Edwin James in 1823. A proposal was made to conserve the name ''G. parviflora'' over ''G. mollis'',Wagner, W. L., & Hoch, P. (2000). Proposal to Reject the Name ''Gaura mollis'' (Onagraceae). ''Taxon'' 49 (1): 101-102. and this was accepted by the International Botanical Congress Committee for Spermatophyta, so ''G. parviflora'' remains the correct name.Brummitt, R. K. (2001). Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 52. ''Taxon'' 50 (4): 1179-1182. The name ''G. mollis'' appears in some sources.USDA Plant Profile
''Gaura mollis''
/ref>

Description

It is an

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical ...

growing to 0.2–2 m (rarely 3 m) tall, unbranched, or if branched, only below the flower spikes. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are long, lance-shaped, and are covered with soft hair. The flower spikes are long, covered with green flower buds, which open at night or before dawn with small flowers diameter with four pink petals.Jepson Flora
''Gaura parviflora''
/ref>Southwest Environmental Information Network
''Gaura mollis''
Wildflowers of Tucson

Uses

Among the

Zuni people The Zuni ( zun, A:shiwi; formerly spelled ''Zuñi'') are Native American Pueblo peoples native to the Zuni River valley. The Zuni are a Federally recognized tribe and most live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, a tributary of the Lit ...

, fresh or dried root would be chewed by medicine man before sucking snakebite and poultice applied to wound.Camazine, Scott and Robert A. Bye 1980 A Study Of The Medical Ethnobotany Of The Zuni Indians of New Mexico. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2:365-388 (p. 377)

Introduction

It is

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

and often

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

in other parts of the United States, and in Australia, China, Japan, and South America.Flora of China
''Gaura parviflora''
/ref>PlantNet (Australia)
''Gaura parviflora''
/ref>

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15340987, from2=Q3281495 curtiflora Flora of North America Plants used in traditional Native American medicine