Clarkia epilobioides
Clarkia rhomboidea
canyon clarkia, willow-herb clarkia
common clarkia, diamond clarkia, diamond fairyfan, forest clarkia, rhombic petal clarkia, rhomboid farewell-to-spring, tongue clarkia
erect, 20–70 cm, sparsely puberulent.
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
petiole to 7 mm;
blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 1.5–2.5 cm.
petiole 5–25 mm;
blade lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 1–6 cm.
open racemes, sometimes few-branched, 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.
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 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.
10–30 mm;
pedicel 5–11 mm.
10–25 mm;
pedicel 1–4 mm.
brown, 0.5–1 mm, scaly, crest inconspicuous.
brown, gray, or mottled, 1–1.5 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm, inconspicuous.
= 18.
= 24.
Clarkia epilobioides
Clarkia rhomboidea
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 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.)
- Local floras:
BC, 
CA, 
OR, 
WA - Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos,
Flora NW, 
PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. 
WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database- LBJ Wildflower Center
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