Summary ⁸

Oenothera curtiflora, commonly known as velvetweed, velvety gaura, or smallflower gaura, is a flowering plant native to the central United States and northern Mexico. However, it is considered invasive in other parts of the United States, Australia, Japan, China, and South America.

Botanical Information ⁹

This plant species is Gaura mollis or Oenothera curtiflora. Its common name is velvet weed. It is a flowering plant. The stem is green and it has pink flowers and velvety soft hairs.

Ecological Information ⁹

Velvet weed grows in dry open fields. It is native throughout much of the United States, except in several north-eastern states.

Ethnobotanical Information ⁸

Velvetweed is edible and people use it in food. It is used for skin irritations. You put oil on your skin and it will prevent/stop the irritation.

References ¹⁰

1. Evening promise herb.com
2. Plants.usda.gov/core/profile.com
3. Wildflower.org/plants/result.php

About the Author ¹⁰

Student author(s)*: Isabel (age 13) from South Valley Academy

*The entries in this field guide have been edited by Yerba Mansa Project staff to ensure that they contain quality, fact-checked content and standardized formatting.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Andrey Zharkikh, some rights reserved (CC BY), https://www.flickr.com/photos/zharkikh/28684106807/
2. (c) Chuck Sexton, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Chuck Sexton
3. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/35598437395/
4. (c) Jerry Oldenettel, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/jroldenettel/21502275845/
5. (c) Jerry Oldenettel, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/jroldenettel/21491165942/
6. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/48332373076/
7. (c) Matt Lavin, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/plant_diversity/48332517172/
8. (c) smiller33, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
9. Adapted by smiller33 from a work by (c) kristen_himm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
10. (c) caseynm, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Calflora
• CalPhotos
• eFloras.org
• Flora of North America (beta)
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
• IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
• Jepson eFlora
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• USDA PLANTS database
• World Flora Online
• 日本のレッドデータ検索システム
• 植物和名−学名インデックス YList

Range Map

(c) NatureServe, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

iNat Map