Clarkia borealis
Clarkia lewisii
northern clarkia
Lewis' clarkia
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
erect, to 50 cm, puberulent to glabrate.
petiole 15–40 mm;
blade elliptic to ovate, 2–6 cm.
petiole to 7 mm;
blade narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2–5 cm.
open racemes, axis recurved only at tip in bud, straight 4+ nodes distal to open flowers;
buds pendent, fusiform, base slightly swollen, tip acute.
open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;
buds pendent.
floral tube 2–4 mm;
sepals reflexed individually;
corolla rotate, petals lavender-pink, often dark-flecked, obdeltate to suborbiculate, unlobed, 13–19 ×7–12 mm, length 1.6–2 times width;
stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, pollen blue-gray;
ovary shallowly 4-grooved, puberulent;
stigma exserted beyond anthers.
floral tube 1.5–4 mm, with ring of hairs at distal margin inside;
sepals reflexed together to 1 side;
corolla bowl-shaped, petals pinkish lavender shading white near middle, base purplish red or with red line, sometimes reddish purple-flecked, 10–30 mm;
stamens 8, unequal, width of all filaments subequal or inner slightly thinner, outer anthers lavender, inner smaller, paler.
20–30 mm;
pedicel 0–3 mm.
15–70 mm, beak 0–3 mm.
light brown or mottled with dark spots, 1.5–2.5 mm, minutely tuberculate, crest 0.2 mm.
brown, 1 mm, scaly to puberulent, crest inconspicuous.
= 18.
Clarkia borealis
Clarkia lewisii
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
Clarkia borealis is closely related, and possibly ancestral, to C. mildrediae. The two species can be distinguished most readily by the degree of curvature of the inflorescence and the petal color.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Clarkia lewisii is known primarily from Monterey County, sparsely in San Benito County, barely reaching Santa Clara County, and is listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society. It is most closely related and morphologically similar to C. cylindrica, from which it can be distinguished by having all filaments about equally wide and a ring of hairs at the rim of the floral tube; outer filaments of C. cylindrica are two times as wide as the inner ones, and the ring of hairs is within the tube below the rim. Clarkia lewisii is also closely related to C. rostrata, from which it differs conspicuously by having a much shorter capsule beak.
Clarkia lewisii is a new name applied to the species known until 1978 as C. bottae, following examination and reinterpretation of the type of Godetia bottae Spach by P. H. Raven and D. R. Parnell (1978). They determined that the type specimens of G. bottae actually referred to the species then known as C. deflexa (Jepson) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis, and reapplied the name C. bottae to that species in sect. Fibula.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Seeds 1.5–1.8 mm. | subsp. borealis |
1. Seeds 1.8–2.5 mm. | subsp. arida |
CA
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
