Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia amoena subsp. whitneyi

Clarkia amoena
Photo is of parent taxon

farewell to spring, Whitney's clarkia

arewell-to-spring, farewell-to-spring, farewell-to-spring clarkia, godetia, yellow clarkia
Stems

decumbent, to 100 cm.Inflorescences congested racemes;

bracts lanceolate;

internodes shorter than subtending flowers.

erect to decumbent, 20–200 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole to 10 mm;

blade linear to lanceolate, 1–6 cm.
Inflorescences

open or dense spikes or racemes, axis straight;

buds erect.
Flowers

petals with bright red spot mid blade, 30–60 mm;

ovary broadly fusiform, 8–12 mm wide, 8-grooved, 4 deeper;

stigma exserted beyond anthers.

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.
Capsules

15–40 mm, sometimes broader distally;

pedicel 0–13 mm.
Seeds

brown to grayish brown, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.1 mm.
2n

= 14.

Clarkia amoena subsp. whitneyi

Clarkia amoena
Phenology Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Coastal scrub.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
w North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies whitneyi is common in cultivation, mostly as hybrid derivatives with other subspecies, but is scarce in the wild, found only rarely along the coast in Humboldt and Mendocino counties; it is listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

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.)
Key
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
Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Rhodanthos > subsect. Primigenia > Clarkia amoena Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Rhodanthos > subsect. Primigenia
Sibling taxa
C. amoena subsp. amoena, C. amoena subsp. caurina, C. amoena subsp. huntiana, C. amoena subsp. lindleyi
C. affinis, 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
Subordinate taxa
C. amoena subsp. amoena, C. amoena subsp. caurina, C. amoena subsp. huntiana, C. amoena subsp. lindleyi, C. amoena subsp. whitneyi
Synonyms Oenothera whitneyi, Godetia whitneyi Oenothera amoena, Godetia amoena
Name authority (A. Gray) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Univ. Calif. Publ. Bot. 20: 265. (1955) (Lehmann) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 65: 62. (1918)
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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