Descriptive Flora 



151 



Gaura drummondii Torr. & Gray. Bee Blossom. 



Wild Honeysuckle. 



Leafy plants, 6 to 18 inches tall, with greyish stems and 

 buds, and fragrant scarlet flowers crowded along the spikes that 

 are merely leafless continuations of the many branches. Stem 

 leaves simple, alternate. Blades % to IV2" long, broadly linear 

 to lanceolate, usually with sparingly toothed and wavy margins. 

 Flowers similar to Gaura suffulta only more crowded. Petals 4, 

 scarlet or red. Fruit similar but with short necklike base (neck 

 shorter than the body) and covered with short, fine, silvery- gray 

 hairs. Bracts on spike falling early. March to May. Grows in 

 patches, showing a preference to well drained soil. The very 

 delicate fragrance of the blossoms gives it one of its common 

 names. 



Gaura sinucda Nutt. 



Plants similar to Gaura suffulta but the leaves are longer 

 and more crowded on the lower 6 to 10", spikes more slender, leaf 

 blades wavy, often segmented with triangular segments, much 

 narrower, fruit longer (5 to 7 mm), not wing-angled but 4-ridged 

 and 4-grooved and more slender. The stems and leaves are often 

 purplish. March to July. Dry hillsides. Not common. 



Gaura brachyoarpa Small. 



Similar to Gaura suffulta but buds are finely pubescent (not 

 glabrous), leaves generally narrower and not as long, and fruit 

 pyramidal, ovoid or oval-ovoid, 4-angled and slightly larger 

 (5-7mm) and far apart on the stems. March to May. In sandy 

 soil. 



CORNACEAE. Dogwood Family. 

 NY 88 ACE AE. Dogwood Family. In Small 9 s Flora. 

 Cornus asperifolia Michx. Dogwood. 

 (Svida asperifolia [Michx.] Small.) 



Shrub with reddish-brown twigs, clusters (1 to 2" across) 

 of small, white flowers, followed by clusters of white, one-seeded 



