Biennial Gaura

(Gaura biennis)

 

   

 

 

Color Drawing: 1787 - 1800. Curtis Botanical Magazine. National Agriculural Library.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Biennial Gaura (Gaura biennis L.)

Identification: Flowers white, aging to pink, with a long corolla tube and 4 petal lobes arranged in a hemisphere at the top of the flower. Stigma with 4 branches shaped like a cross. Flower with 8 stamens. Plant branched with flowers arranged in spikes at the end of the branches and 2 to 3 flowers open at any one time. Leaves elongate, narrow with jagged outer margins. Plant 2 to 5 feet in height.

Distribution: Minnesota to western Ontario, southward to Mississippi and Georgia.

Habitat: Biennial Gaura is found in meadows, prairies, and along the shores of lakes and rivers.

Flowering period: June to October.

Similar Species: The flowers of Biennial Gaura are distinctive.

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