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. 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 , and this was accepted by the International Botanical Congress Committee for Spermatophyta, so G. parviflora" remains the correct name. The name "G. mollis" appears in some sources. 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 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. Uses. Among the Zuni people, fresh or dried root would be chewed by  medicine man before sucking snakebite and poultice applied to wound. Introduction. It is naturalized and often invasive in other parts of the United States, and in Australia, China, Japan, and South America.