Oenothera curtiflora

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 and Wyoming south to Durango and Nuevo Leon.[1]

Oenothera curtiflora
Botanical illustration
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Onagraceae
Genus: Oenothera
Species:
O. curtiflora
Binomial name
Oenothera curtiflora
W. L. Wagner & Hoch
Synonyms

Gaura parviflora Dougl. ex Lehm.

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,[2] and this was accepted by the International Botanical Congress Committee for Spermatophyta, so G. parviflora remains the correct name.[3] The name G. mollis appears in some sources.[4]

Description

It is an annual plant growing to 0.2–2 m (rarely 3 m) tall, unbranched, or if branched, only below the flower spikes. The leaves are 2–20 cm (0.79–7.87 in) long, lance-shaped, and are covered with soft hair. The flower spikes are 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in) long, covered with green flower buds, which open at night or before dawn with small flowers 5 mm (0.20 in) diameter with four pink petals.[5][6][7]

Uses

Among the Zuni people, fresh or dried root would be chewed by medicine man before sucking snakebite and poultice applied to wound.[8]

Introduction

It is naturalized and often invasive in other parts of the United States, and in Australia, China, Japan, and South America.[4][9][10]

References
  1. "Oenothera curtiflora". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  2. Wagner, W. L., & Hoch, P. (2000). Proposal to Reject the Name Gaura mollis (Onagraceae). Taxon 49 (1): 101-102.
  3. Brummitt, R. K. (2001). Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 52. Taxon 50 (4): 1179-1182.
  4. USDA Plant Profile: Gaura mollis
  5. Jepson Flora: Gaura parviflora
  6. Southwest Environmental Information Network: Gaura mollis
  7. Wildflowers of Tucson: Gaura mollis Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 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)
  9. Flora of China: Gaura parviflora
  10. PlantNet (Australia): Gaura parviflora
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