This native annual grows with erect stems 1 1/2 to 6 feet tall. The abundant fine surface hairs give the stem and leaves a soft, velvety character. The elliptical leaves with pointed tips are up to 5 inches long and 1 inch wide (C). The stem terminates in a dense spike of irregular, tubular flowers with 4 pink to rose petals and 4 narrow, sharply reflexed sepals (B). Flowers are tiny, the entire floral tube less than 1/4 inch long. Flowering proceeds from the base to the tip of the nodding spike (A).
Grows in drier sites in prairies, open woodlands, fields, and roadsides, flowering from May through October. At Neale Woods, it is uncommon in Nebraska Prairie.
The dense, nodding cluster (spike) of tiny pink flowers separates Velvety Gaura from Large-Flowered Gaura (Gaura longiflora), which has a spreading, more open cluster of much larger, flowers. The asymmetrically placed petals, reflexed sepals, 8 protruding stamens and 4-lobed stigma typical of the Gauras are not easy to see in this plant, which takes its name, parviflora, from a Latin word meaning “small flower.” They are more evident in photos of the white Large-Flowered Gaura (Gaura longiflora).
The content of NatureSearch is provided by dedicated volunteer Naturalists of Fontenelle Forest who strive to provide the most accurate information available. Contributors of the images retain their copyrights. The point of contact for this page is: Neal Ratzlaff.