Another distinguishing feature is the disk-shaped stigma which is sometimes yellow and sometimes black or dark brown. In the evening-primroses previously mentioned, the stigma is divided into four narrow lobes. The plants grow on gravelly hillsides from Arkansas to Mexico. The slender capsules are over an inch long. Several other day primroses are found in the state. They are all sometimes grouped with the œnotheras.
[Illustration: LARGE-FLOWERED GAURA WILD HONEYSUCKLE]
Large-Flowered or Lindheimer’s Gaura (_Gaura lindheimeri_) is, like other members of this group, called kisses and wild honeysuckle because of its sweet fragrance. Most of them produce an abundance of nectar and make excellent honey plants. This is the handsomest member of the group in Texas and is known in cultivation as a hardy plant. It is native to the prairies of Southeast Texas and Louisiana and blooms from March to May.
The four white petals have the group characteristic of turning fan-wise toward the upper side of the flower, and the 8 long stamens and the long style hang toward the lower part. Only a few flowers open at one time around the spike, but numerous buds are densely crowded above the open flowers. This plant has erect-ascending branches and grows 2-5 feet high.
Prairie Gaura. Wild Honeysuckle (_Gaura brachycarpa_) sometimes grows 2-3 feet high, but is usually much lower. With favorable rains, the flowering spikes grow quite long. This gaura may be recognized by its stalkless 4-angled seed capsules. It blooms on Texas prairies in April and May. Many other gauras are found in the state.
Leaves usually opposite; sepals usually 4, calyx tube joined to the ovary; petals usually 4, or absent; stamens 4, alternate with the petals; ovary inferior; fruit a drupe.
Flowering Dogwood (_Cornus florida_) grows from Massachusetts to Ontario, Texas, and Mexico, but few people realize that it grows very luxuriantly and is widespread in the woods of East Texas. The beauty of the dogwood is not in the flowers, as one might expect, but in the four broad white floral leaves (bracts) which surround the flower-cluster. These bracts are a creamy white but are often tinged with pink. The minute greenish-white flowers have four petals and bloom in March before the leaves appear. The oblong scarlet fruits, about half an inch long, ripen in the fall.