Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia affinis

chaparral clarkia, chaparral clarkia or fairyfan, chaparral fairyfan
Stems

erect, to 80 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 0–3 mm;

blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1.5–7 cm.
Inflorescences

dense spikes, axis straight;

buds erect.
Flowers

floral tube1.5–4 mm;

sepals reflexed together to 1 side;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals 5–15 mm;

stamens 8, subequal;

ovary cylindrical, 8-grooved, length at least 10 times width;

stigma not exserted beyond anthers.
Capsules

15–30 mm, beak 3–7 mm;

pedicel 0–5 mm.
Seeds

brown or gray, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.1 mm.
2n

= 52.

Clarkia affinis
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Openings in woodlands and chaparral.
Elevation 0–500 m. (0–1600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clarkia affinis is known primarily from west-central California and the North Coast Ranges, and more scattered in the Sierra Nevada Foothills and Western Transverse Ranges.

Clarkia affinis is a hexaploid most closely related to C. purpurea; both have 2n = 52. Chromosome pairing in hybrids between them, as well as morphology, suggest that they have a tetraploid (2n = 34) genome in common. The two species are most readily distinguished by their immature capsules, which in C. affinis are slender, at least ten times longer than wide, beaked, and shallowly grooved, whereas those of C. purpurea are stout, not more than eight times longer than wide, not prominently beaked, and deeply grooved; the sepals of the former are generally reflexed together in fours whereas those of the latter are reflexed individually or in twos. Based on morphology and molecular data, the diploid genome probably came from C. cylindrica or a related species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Biortis
Sibling taxa
C. amoena, C. arcuata, C. australis, C. biloba, C. borealis, C. bottae, C. breweri, C. concinna, C. cylindrica, C. davyi, C. delicata, C. dudleyana, C. epilobioides, C. exilis, C. franciscana, C. gracilis, C. heterandra, C. imbricata, C. jolonensis, C. lassenensis, C. lewisii, C. lingulata, C. mildrediae, C. modesta, C. mosquinii, C. prostrata, C. pulchella, C. purpurea, C. rhomboidea, C. rostrata, C. rubicunda, C. similis, C. speciosa, C. springvillensis, C. stellata, C. tembloriensis, C. unguiculata, C. virgata, C. williamsonii, C. xantiana
Name authority H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Madroño 12: 34. (1953)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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