Clarkia cylindrica
Clarkia rhomboidea
speckled clarkia, speckled fairyfan
common clarkia, diamond clarkia, diamond fairyfan, forest clarkia, rhombic petal clarkia, rhomboid farewell-to-spring, tongue clarkia
erect, to 60 cm, puberulent or glabrous.
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
petiole to 5 mm;
blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 1–6 cm.
petiole 5–25 mm;
blade lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 1–6 cm.
open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;
buds pendent.
open racemes, axis in bud recurved 1–3 nodes distal to open flowers;
buds pendent, narrowly obovoid, tip acute to obtuse, often curved to one side.
floral tube 2–7 mm, with ring of hairs proximal to distal margin inside;
sepals reflexed together to 1 side;
corolla bowl-shaped, petals purple to pinkish lavender shading white near middle, often reddish purple-flecked, base bright purplish red, 10–35 mm;
stamens 8, unequal, width of outer filaments about 2 times inner, outer anthers lavender, inner smaller, paler.
floral tube 1–3 mm;
sepals reflexed individually;
corolla rotate, petals pinkish lavender, often with darker flecks, narrowly to broadly obovate or rhombic, sometimes ± 3-lobed, 6–12(–14) × 3–7 mm;
stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, pollen blue-gray;
ovary shallowly 4-grooved;
stigma not or rarely exserted beyond anthers.
20–50 mm, beak 3–5 mm.
10–25 mm;
pedicel 1–4 mm.
brown, 1–1.5 mm, minutely scaly to puberulent, crest 0.1 mm.
brown, gray, or mottled, 1–1.5 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm, inconspicuous.
= 24.
Clarkia cylindrica
Clarkia rhomboidea
Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).
As defined by Davis, the subspecies of Clarkia cylindrica have distinct but partly overlapping geographical ranges; subsp. cylindrica mainly in the South Coast and Transverse Ranges to the Tehachapi Mountain area, and subsp. clavicarpa mainly in the central and southern Sierra Nevada Foothills to the Tehachapi Mountain area. More recent collections suggest more substantial geographical overlap. Morphological variation correlates with geographical distribution, with the most consistent difference in ovary and capsule shape. According to Davis, the taxa are moderately interfertile, less so for more distantly separated individuals.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Clarkia rhomboidea is a tetraploid derived from C. mildrediae and C. virgata or a closely related species. The six diploid species in sect. Myxocarpa closely related to C. rhomboidea (C. australis, C. borealis, C. mildrediae, C. mosquinii, C. stellata, and C. virgata) are California endemics with relatively small areas of distribution, whereas C. rhomboidea occurs throughout much of the western United States and is morphologically much more variable. Clarkia rhomboidea characteristically has relatively small, self-pollinating flowers with the stigma in contact with the anthers. Among the diploid species only C. stellata has similar small, self-pollinating flowers but is distinguished by yellow pollen and petals with a shallowly 3-lobed blade that is not flecked. Rare populations of C. rhomboidea have relatively large flowers with the stigma exserted beyond the anthers. When they occur within the geographical range of the outcrossing diploid species, they may be difficult to distinguish without determining chromosome number.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Ovaries and capsules cylindrical. | subsp. cylindrica |
1. Ovaries and capsules subclavate, enlarged distally. | subsp. clavicarpa |
- 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
