Note 56 — [273] CHAPTER IV [XI]
Reading edition
G. linifolia, Nuttall's Manuscript.—Stem erect, sparingly branched, smooth leaves, smooth sessile, alternate linear lanceolate entire, with the midrib translucent. Flowers in a terminal crowded spike; after flowering the rachis extends itself, and in the ripened fruit the spike is scattered; nut triquetrous, much shorter than the linear bractea.
The flowers are white, having in the calyx a tinge of brownish purple. They are about as large as those of G. coccinnea. The plant is three or four feet high, the leaves small and short, and the stem slender.
This is the fifth species of gaura we have met with west of the Mississippi. The G. biennis of the Eastern States has not hitherto been found here.—James.