North America Native Plant

Slenderstalk Beeblossom

Botanical name: Oenothera filipes

USDA symbol: OEFI3

Life cycle: perennial

Habit: forb

Native status: Native to the lower 48 states  

Synonyms: Gaura filipes Spach (GAFI2)  ⚘  Gaura filipes Spach var. major Torr. & A. Gray (GAFIM)  ⚘  Gaura michauxii Spach (GAMI7)   

Meet the Slenderstalk Beeblossom Slenderstalk beeblossom (Oenothera filipes) is a charming native perennial that belongs to the evening primrose family. You might also encounter it in older gardening references under its former names, including Gaura filipes. Don’t let the name changes confuse you – this is the same lovely plant ...

Meet the Slenderstalk Beeblossom

Slenderstalk beeblossom (Oenothera filipes) is a charming native perennial that belongs to the evening primrose family. You might also encounter it in older gardening references under its former names, including Gaura filipes. Don’t let the name changes confuse you – this is the same lovely plant that gardeners have been discovering and falling in love with for generations.

As a forb – basically a fancy botanical term for a soft-stemmed flowering plant – slenderstalk beeblossom lacks the woody stems of shrubs but makes up for it with delicate, airy flowers that seem to dance in the slightest breeze.

Slenderstalk Beeblossom

Classification

Group

Dicot

Kingdom

Plantae - Plants

Subkingdom

Tracheobionta - Vascular plants

Superdivision

Spermatophyta - Seed plants

Division

Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants

Subdivision
Class

Magnoliopsida - Dicotyledons

Subclass

Rosidae

Order

Myrtales

Family

Onagraceae Juss. - Evening Primrose family

Genus

Oenothera L. - evening primrose

Species

Oenothera filipes (Spach) W.L. Wagner & Hoch - slenderstalk beeblossom

Plant data source: USDA, NRCS 2025. The PLANTS Database. https://plants.usda.gov,. 2/25/2025. National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA