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 | |
|---|---|
| |
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
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| Synonyms | |
Taxonomy
editThe 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
editIt 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
editAmong the Zuni people, fresh or dried root would be chewed by medicine man before sucking snakebite and poultice applied to wound.[8]
Introduction
editIt is naturalized and often invasive in other parts of the United States, and in Australia, China, Japan, and South America.[4][9][10]
References
edit- ^ "Oenothera curtiflora". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
- ^ Wagner, W. L., & Hoch, P. (2000). Proposal to Reject the Name Gaura mollis (Onagraceae). Taxon 49 (1): 101-102.
- ^ Brummitt, R. K. (2001). Report of the Committee for Spermatophyta: 52. Taxon 50 (4): 1179-1182.
- ^ a b USDA Plant Profile: Gaura mollis
- ^ Jepson Flora: Gaura parviflora
- ^ Southwest Environmental Information Network: Gaura mollis [dead link]
- ^ Wildflowers of Tucson: Gaura mollis Archived 2006-11-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 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)
- ^ Flora of China: Gaura parviflora
- ^ PlantNet (Australia): Gaura parviflora