Plant Name
Scientific Name: Gaura coccinea
Synonyms: Gaura glabra, G. odorata
Common Names: Scarlet Beeblossom, Scarlet Gaura
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Subshrub, Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Mountain. This wildflower grows in grassy areas.
Flower Color: White, Pink, Pinkish red
Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer
Height: To 20 inches (51 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) wide and have 4 asymmetrical, spoon-shaped petals, a 4-lobed stigma, and 8 stamens. The flowers open white in the evening, later turn pink and then reddish and finally close later the next day. The leaves are small, alternate, and linear to narrowly elliptical in shape with smooth or toothed edges.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The white, newly opened, nocturnal flowers attract pollinating moths.
Fragrant – The flowers are lightly fragrant in the evening.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Rosidae
Order: Myrtales
Family: Onagraceae – Evening Primrose family
Genus: Gaura L. – beeblossom
Species: Gaura coccinea Nutt. ex Pursh – scarlet beeblossom
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