Clarkia amoena
Clarkia virgata
arewell-to-spring, farewell-to-spring, farewell-to-spring clarkia, godetia, yellow clarkia
clarkia, Sierra clarkia
erect to decumbent, 20–200 cm, puberulent.
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
petiole to 10 mm;
blade linear to lanceolate, 1–6 cm.
petiole 15–50 mm;
blade elliptic to ovate, 2–5 cm.
open or dense spikes or racemes, axis straight;
buds erect.
open racemes, axis recurved only at tip in bud, straight 4+ nodes distal to open flowers;
buds pendent, narrowly obovoid, tip obtuse.
floral tube 3–10 mm;
sepals usually reflexed together to one side, or rarely in pairs or singly;
corolla bowl-shaped, petals pale pink to lavender, usually with red spot or mark near middle, obovate to fan-shaped, 15–60 mm, not lobed, apex sometimes shallowly notched or erose;
stamens 8, in 2 subequal sets;
ovary cylindrical and 4-grooved or fusiform and 8-grooved, puberulent;
stigma exserted or not beyond anthers.
floral tube 2–4 mm;
sepals reflexed individually;
corolla rotate, petals lavender-purple, mottled or spotted with reddish purple, ± rhombic, unlobed, 7–14 × 3–7 mm, length 1.9–3 times width;
stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, pollen blue-gray;
ovary shallowly 4-grooved;
stigma not or rarely exserted beyond anthers.
15–40 mm, sometimes broader distally;
pedicel 0–13 mm.
10–20 mm;
pedicel 1–4 mm.
brown to grayish brown, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.1 mm.
brown or gray, 1–1.5 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm.
= 10.
Clarkia amoena
Clarkia virgata
Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).
Clarkia amoena is closely related to C. rubicunda, which differs morphologically mainly in the color pattern of the petals. Petals of C. amoena have a conspicuous red spot or group of small red spots or marks near the middle, whereas those of C. rubicunda have a red area at the base and are not spotted near the middle. The areas of distribution of the two species barely overlap in California just north of San Francisco Bay, and C. rubicunda could be considered a southern geographical race or subspecies of C. amoena were it not that their readily formed hybrids are sterile due to chromosomal rearrangement. Clarkia amoena is one of the parent species of the allotetraploid C. gracilis. Intermediates between subspecies are frequent.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Clarkia virgata is known primarily from El Dorado to Tuolumne counties in the north-central Sierra Nevada range, with scattered collections to Mariposa and Yuba counties.
Clarkia virgata is very similar to C. mosquinii and C. australis and is probably derived from the former through chromosome reduction in number and rearrangement and may be ancestral to the latter, which differs in chromosome arrangement. Experimental hybrids in all combinations have very low fertility. The three species are difficult to distinguish morphologically but replace one another ecogeographically with C. australis in the south and C. virgata in the middle with non-overlapping distributions. Other than geographical distribution, C. virgata is usually distinguishable from C. mosquinii by having narrower petal blades and from C. australis by having broader leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Stigmas not exserted beyond anthers; petals less than 20 mm; coastal British Columbia, Oregon, Washington. | subsp. caurina |
1. Stigmas exserted beyond anthers; petals 15–60 mm. | → 2 |
2. Ovaries 8-grooved, broadly fusiform, 8–12 mm wide. | subsp. whitneyi |
2. Ovaries 4-grooved, cylindrical to subclavate, 2–6 mm wide. | → 3 |
3. Inflorescences open, internodes longer than subtending flowers, bracts sublinear. | subsp. huntiana |
3. Inflorescences congested, internodes shorter than subtending flowers, bracts narrowly lanceolate or wider. | → 4 |
4. Stems decumbent to suberect, to 100 cm; petals 20–35 mm, usually with red spot mid blade; coastal California. | subsp. amoena |
4. Stems erect, to 200 cm; petals 30–40 mm, usually without red spot or with very small spot or streak mid blade; inland Oregon, Washington. | subsp. lindleyi |
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist (observations)
USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
- SEINet
- Plants of the World Online
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Wikipedia
- Google Image Search
