velvetweed, Oenothera curtiflora

Evening-primroses! Bee blossoms! Sundrops! All those Oenotheras with their fanciful petals get fanciful floral names. But if you're an efficient sort that gets things done with minimal effort, and without showing off, you just get to be a weed. Having no petals, or in some cases much smaller petals may be velvetweed's adaptation to living on the plains, where wind can do the pollination work instead of bugs. Velvetweed has been successful enough with it's strategy that it is able to expand its territory to Australia, east Asia, and South America. Here it is native to the central prairies, and is now found in AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, and WY. Logan Co CO, 6/16/13. Evening-primrose family, Onagraceae.