Clarkia epilobioides |
Clarkia prostrata |
|
---|---|---|
canyon clarkia, willow-herb clarkia |
prostrate clarkia |
|
Stems | erect, 20–70 cm, sparsely puberulent. |
prostrate or decumbent, to 50 cm, sparsely puberulent. |
Leaves | petiole to 7 mm; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 1.5–2.5 cm. |
sessile or subsessile; blade oblanceolate to elliptic, 1–2.5 cm, apex usually obtuse. |
Inflorescences | open racemes, sometimes few-branched, axis recurved at tip in bud; buds pendent. |
prostrate, dense racemes, axis straight; buds erect. |
Flowers | usually cleistogamous; floral tube 1–3 mm; sepals reflexed together to 1 side or in pairs; corolla bowl-shaped, petals fading pink, obovate; stamens 8, unequal, anthers white or cream, outer ones larger than inner. |
floral tube 4–7 mm; sepals usually reflexed in pairs; corolla bowl-shaped, petals lavender-pink shading pale yellow basally, with reddish purple spot above base, 10–15 mm; stamens 8, subequal; ovary 8-grooved; stigma not exserted beyond anthers. |
Capsules | 10–30 mm; pedicel 5–11 mm. |
20–30 mm. |
Seeds | brown, 0.5–1 mm, scaly, crest inconspicuous. |
brown or gray, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.2 mm. |
2n | = 18. |
= 52. |
Clarkia epilobioides |
Clarkia prostrata |
|
Phenology | Flowering Apr–May. | Flowering May–Jul. |
Habitat | Shady sites, woodlands, chaparral. | Coastal bluffs in grasslands and closed-cone pine forests. |
Elevation | 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) | 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.) |
Distribution |
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California)
|
CA |
Discussion | Clarkia epilobioides is known from south-central Arizona in Gila, Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties, and widely in west-central and southwestern California and adjacent Baja California, Mexico. In California, it occurs from Contra Costa and San Mateo counties in the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego County in the south, including most of the Channel Islands. Clarkia epilobioides is modally self-pollinating, and up to half of its flowers do not open, yet set a full complement of seeds (H. Lewis and M. E. Lewis 1955). However, outcrossing does occur, and C. epilobioides is one of the parents of the tetraploid species C. similis, from which it differs by having white, unflecked petals; it is also one of the parents of the tetraploid C. delicata. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Clarkia prostrata, like C. davyi, occurs only on coastal bluffs and adjacent low elevation pine forests along the Pacific coast, and in this case only in the California Central Coast Subregion in Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo counties. Clarkia prostrata is a hexaploid that combines the tetraploid genome of C. davyi and the diploid genome of C. speciosa. Clarkia prostrata is morphologically and ecologically very similar to C. davyi but can usually be distinguished by its larger flowers with a spot on each petal. It differs from C. speciosa by having smaller flowers with the stigma not exserted beyond the anthers. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 10. | FNA vol. 10. |
Parent taxa | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Phaeostoma > subsect. Micranthae | Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Godetia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Oenothera epilobioides, Godetia epilobioides | |
Name authority | (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 65: 60. (1918) | H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Madroño 12: 36. (1953) |
Web links |