Clarkia australis
Clarkia xantiana
Small's southern clarkia
gunsight clarkia, Xantus' clarkia
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
erect, to 80 cm, glabrous, glaucous.
petiole 10–30 mm;
blade linear to lanceolate, 2–5 cm.
petiole 0–2 mm;
blade linear to lanceolate, 2–6 cm.
open racemes, axis recurved only at tip in bud, straight 4+ nodes distal to open flowers;
buds pendent, narrowly obovoid, tip obtuse.
open racemes, axis straight;
buds pendent.
floral tube 2–4 mm;
sepals reflexed individually;
corolla rotate, petals lavender-purple, mottled or spotted reddish purple, ± rhombic, unlobed, 6–12(–14) ×3–7 mm, length 2.2–3 times width;
stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, pollen blue-gray;
ovary shallowly 4-grooved;
stigma exserted beyond anthers.
floral tube 2–5 mm;
sepals reflexed together to 1 side;
corolla rotate, petals lavender to reddish purple, lavender-pink, or white, often with white-surrounded dark reddish purple spot distally, clawed, 2-lobed, with slender central tooth, 1–3 mm, 6–20 mm;
stamens 8, in 2 unequal sets, outer anthers lavender to purple, inner smaller, paler;
ovary 8-grooved;
stigma exserted or not beyond anthers.
10–20 mm;
pedicel 0–4 mm.
15–25 mm;
pedicel 0–5 mm.
brown, 1–1.5 mm, scaly.
brown, 1.3–1.5 mm, tuberculate, crest minute.
= 10.
Clarkia australis
Clarkia xantiana
Clarkia australis is found in the foothills of the central Sierra Nevada range, from Calaveras, Madera, Mariposa, and Tuolumne counties, and has been designated as rare by the California Native Plant Society.
Clarkia australis is morphologically very similar to C. virgata and, based on its more southern distribution, may be derived from it. They are most readily distinguished morphologically by the narrower leaves of C. australis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Originally placed in the group now delimited as subsect. Phaeostoma by H. Lewis and M. E. Lewis (1955), Clarkia xantiana was treated as a monotypic subsect. Xantianae within sect. Phaeostoma by K. E. Holsinger (1985), based mainly on its unusual 2-lobed petals with a tooth in the sinus. Molecular data (R. A. Levin et al. 2004) placed C. xantiana close to C. bottae, and both of them close to but not within sect. Phaeostoma. Both species share the chromosome number 2n = 18 with C. jolonensis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Petals 12–20 mm; stigmas exserted beyond anthers. | subsp. xantiana |
1. Petals 6–12 mm; stigmas not exserted beyond anthers. | subsp. parviflora |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
