Gaura villosa Torrey 1827, not Oenothera villosa Thunberg 1794; G. villosa var. arenicola Munz

Herbs densely soft-villous, hairs mostly appressed, also strigil­lose, rarely glandular puber­ulent, branches of inflorescences glabrous or sparsely glandular puberulent. Leaves: blade nar­rowly lanceolate to very narrowly elliptic or linear, sometimes narrowly elliptic to lanceolate or narrowly oblanceolate proximally, margins subentire or shallowly sinuate-dentate, sometimes markedly so. Flowers: floral tube 2–5 mm; petals 8.5–13 mm; style 10–19 mm. 2n = 14.

Flowering May–Aug. Sandy flats and dunes on high plains and rolling plains; 700–1700 m; Colo., Kans., N.J., N.Mex., Okla., Tex.

Subspecies cinerea is locally escaped in New Jersey. It occurs in northwestern Texas, eastern New Mexico, southeastern-most Colorado, southwestern Kansas(one station farther north, in Ellis County), and the western half of Oklahoma.