WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This robust, 2–7-feet tall plant, common on roadsides, is topped with a 7–12-inch long, whip-like, arching spike of tiny white to pink flowers. Soft, velvety hairs soft to touch cover the generally unbranched stem and leaves. Note the spreading petals that taper to the base, and the protruding style and stamens are about equal in length allowing self-pollination. The Gaura genus is now lumped with the Oenothera genus.

FLOWER: May–August. Tiny flowers bloom upward on the spike with the filaments and style extending beyond the 4 white, aging to pink, 1/8-inch long (3 mm), petals; 4 sepals bend back against the stem. The small stigma is disk-shaped. The flowers open in the evening and close during the morning and last only 1–2 days.

LEAVES: Basal rosette (usually withered by flowering) and alternate stem leaves. Blades narrow, oval to elliptic, 2–5-inches long (5–12.7 cm), 1/4–1-inch wide (6–25 mm), with slightly wavy teeth and tapering to a point.

HABITAT: Moist to dry sandy, rocky, loamy soils, roadsides, fields, disturbed areas; riparian areas, prairies, desert scrub, pinyon-juniper.

ELEVATION: 4,300–7,200 feet.

RANGE: Widespread in all states west of the Mississippi River.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Scarlet Gaura, O. suffrutescens (Gaura coccinea), statewide, has multiple, 1–2-foot tall stems and 1/8–1/4-inch long (3–6 mm) petals.

NM COUNTIES: Statewide, except Lea County, in low- to mid-elevation habitats.