The leaves of this verbena do resemble those of the stinging nettle, but without the sting. The flowers are minute and adorable.
Captured at Rocky Point Glade in Swope Park July 12th, 2021
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Journal
A trip to Swope Park's Rocky Point Glade revealed a forest understory full of this pretty tick-clover (Desmodium perplexum). Captured 7/12/2021 at Rocky Point Glade.
The leaves are clustered at the bottom of the plant in a basal rosette. The leaves are made up of three leaflets.
Pretty pale-pink pea-shaped flowers.
The seeds covered in hooked hairs that allow them to stick onto the fur of animals and the socks of hikers.
Pretty in Pink
I learned this plant as Gaura longiflora, but in 2007 the name was changed to Oenothera filiformis. Scientific names change for various reasons. In this case, molecular analysis showed species in four genera - Oenothera, Gaura, Steonosiphon, and Calylophus, were more closely related that previously thought based upon floral morphology (Wagner et al. 2007). There is a movement in the science of taxonomy to make our classification systems (i.e. what we name plants) reflect evolutionary relationships between species. So all the plants in these genera were placed into genus Oenothera. I am working on relearning these names.
Oenothera filiformis is a lovely plant. It can grow quite tall -up to 6 feet and has velvety foliage. The blossoms flutter in the breeze, giving the common name of Butterfly Weed (which is not the same as Butterfly Milkweed). This is a tough plant that can grow in many conditions, and can become common in "weedy" places such as roadsides, waste grounds, and railroad right-of-ways.
I "captured" this species on July 8, 2021 at a privately-owned prairie near Topeka, KS.
Wagner, W., Hoch, P., & Raven, P. (2007). Revised Classification of the Onagraceae. Systematic Botany Monographs,83, 1-240. Retrieved July 11, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25027969
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