Downy gaura and downy cloud

Still another thing I photographed on August 6th at a sump on the Blackland Prairie in northeast Austin was this wildflower known as downy gaura and velvetleaf gaura, based on the plant’s fuzziness. I’ve known this wildflower as Gaura parviflora (and previously as Gaura mollis), but in looking at a recent version of Bill Carr’s plant list for Travis County I was surprised to find that molecular analysis has led botanists to move all the species of Gaura (as well as those of Stenosiphon and Calylophus) into the genus Oenothera. Downy gaura is Oenothera curtiflora in the new classification.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman

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