Gaura filipes Spach, Nouv. Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. 4: 379. 1836; G. filipes var. major Torrey &A. Gray; G. michauxii Spach

Herbs perennial, clumped, sparsely to densely strigillose, inflorescence usually glabrous or glandular puberulent, sometimes proximalmost parts villous, hairs erect, 1–2 mm; from heavy, twisted, woody rootstock. Stems erect, branched below and just above ground, branched also proximal to inflorescences, 60–250(–300) cm. Leaves in a basal rosette and cauline, (1–)3–9 × (0.1–)0.5–1.3 cm, blade linear or narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, margins slightly to coarsely sinuate-dentate. Inflorescences slender, often well-branched, buds small and well-spaced. Flowers 4-merous, zygomorphic, opening near sunset; floral tube 2.5–6 mm; sepals 5–12.5 mm; petals white, fading pink to red, slightly unequal, elliptic, 5–10 mm, clawed; stamens presented evenly around flower parts, filaments 3–8.5 mm, anthers 1.4–4 mm, pollen 90–100% fertile; style 8.5–19 mm, stigma exserted beyond anthers at anthesis. Capsules ovoid, narrowly 4-winged or 4-angled, 5–10 × 1.5–2 mm, abruptly constricted to a sterile stipe 0.5–4.5 mm. Seeds 1 or 2, yellowish to reddish brown, 1.5–3.5 × 1–1.5 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering May–Sep(–Oct). Sandy hills and flats, open woods; 0–300 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., La., Miss., Mo., S.C., Tenn.

Oenothera filipes occurs marginally in several states, including: southernmost Illinois and southern Indiana; northern Florida; southeastern Mississippi; and, Washington Parish, Louisiana. P. H. Raven and D. P. Gregory (1972[1973]) determined O. filipes to be self-incompatible.