Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia epilobioides

Clarkia xantiana

canyon clarkia, willow-herb clarkia

gunsight clarkia, Xantus' clarkia
Stems

erect, 20–70 cm, sparsely puberulent.

erect, to 80 cm, glabrous, glaucous.
Leaves

petiole to 7 mm;

blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or oblanceolate, 1.5–2.5 cm.

petiole 0–2 mm;

blade linear to lanceolate, 2–6 cm.
Inflorescences

open racemes, sometimes few-branched, axis recurved at tip in bud;

buds pendent.

open racemes, axis straight;

buds pendent.
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 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.
Capsules

10–30 mm;

pedicel 5–11 mm.

15–25 mm;

pedicel 0–5 mm.
Seeds

brown, 0.5–1 mm, scaly, crest inconspicuous.

brown, 1.3–1.5 mm, tuberculate, crest minute.
2n

= 18.

Clarkia epilobioides

Clarkia xantiana
Phenology Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Shady sites, woodlands, chaparral.
Elevation 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

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.)
Key
1. Petals 12–20 mm; stigmas exserted beyond anthers.
subsp. xantiana
1. Petals 6–12 mm; stigmas not exserted beyond anthers.
subsp. parviflora
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. Fibula
Sibling taxa
C. affinis, C. amoena, C. arcuata, C. australis, C. biloba, C. borealis, C. bottae, C. breweri, C. concinna, C. cylindrica, C. davyi, C. delicata, C. dudleyana, C. exilis, C. franciscana, C. gracilis, C. heterandra, C. imbricata, C. jolonensis, C. lassenensis, C. lewisii, C. lingulata, C. mildrediae, C. modesta, C. mosquinii, C. prostrata, C. pulchella, C. purpurea, C. rhomboidea, C. rostrata, C. rubicunda, C. similis, C. speciosa, C. springvillensis, C. stellata, C. tembloriensis, C. unguiculata, C. virgata, C. williamsonii, C. xantiana
C. affinis, C. amoena, C. arcuata, C. australis, C. biloba, C. borealis, C. bottae, C. breweri, C. concinna, C. cylindrica, C. davyi, C. delicata, C. dudleyana, C. epilobioides, C. exilis, C. franciscana, C. gracilis, C. heterandra, C. imbricata, C. jolonensis, C. lassenensis, C. lewisii, C. lingulata, C. mildrediae, C. modesta, C. mosquinii, C. prostrata, C. pulchella, C. purpurea, C. rhomboidea, C. rostrata, C. rubicunda, C. similis, C. speciosa, C. springvillensis, C. stellata, C. tembloriensis, C. unguiculata, C. virgata, C. williamsonii
Subordinate taxa
C. xantiana subsp. parviflora, C. xantiana subsp. xantiana
Synonyms Oenothera epilobioides, Godetia epilobioides
Name authority (Nuttall ex Torrey & A. Gray) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 65: 60. (1918) A. Gray: Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 7: 146. (1859)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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