Beautiful. Fall prairie flowers Meadowbrook Park Urbana IL
Oenothera gaura, formerly known as
Gaura biennis, the
biennial gaura or
biennial beeblossom, is a North American
flowering plantthat can reach 6 ft (1.8 m) in height at maturity. Its upper half is made up of flowering stems, which are covered with soft, white hairs. It has light pink colored flowers, which turn a vibrant red/pink color in the late summer to early fall seasons (typically August to September). These colors make this plant attractive to butterflies and bees, and are in full bloom just before many fall plant species begin to bloom.
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Research has been done in order to test the hybridization between different species of the section
Oenothera sect.
Gaura and to describe why many members of this group are so similar morphologically. According to Carr et al., readily crossbreeds with
Gaura longiflora (now called
Oenothera filiformis), and showed it is a direct derivative from
G. longiflora, but the specialized feature of permanent translocation
heterozygosity set
Oenothera gaura apart as a unique genetic system amongst the genus.