Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia franciscana

Clarkia rhomboidea

Presidio clarkia

common clarkia, diamond clarkia, diamond fairyfan, forest clarkia, rhombic petal clarkia, rhomboid farewell-to-spring, tongue clarkia
Stems

erect, to 40 cm, strigillose.

erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 0–5 mm;

blade narrowly lanceolate, 1–5.5 cm.

petiole 5–25 mm;

blade lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 1–6 cm.
Inflorescences

racemes, axis straight;

buds erect.

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.
Flowers

floral tube 1–3 mm;

sepals reflexed together to one side;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals lavender-pink shading white near middle, base bright reddish purple, fan-shaped, 5–13 mm, apex erose;

stamens 8, subequal;

ovary cylindrical, 4-grooved, puberulent;

stigma not exserted beyond anthers.

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.
Capsules

20–40 mm;

pedicel 0–15 mm.

10–25 mm;

pedicel 1–4 mm.
Seeds

gray, 1.2–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.2 mm.

brown, gray, or mottled, 1–1.5 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm, inconspicuous.
2n

= 14.

= 24.

Clarkia franciscana

Clarkia rhomboidea
Phenology Flowering May–Jun. Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Serpentine soil. Yellow-pine forests, woodlands.
Elevation 50 m. (200 ft.) 0–3000 m. (0–9800 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clarkia franciscana is an endangered species (designated rare by the California Native Plant Society), restricted to serpentine soils in coastal grass and shrub communities. The only known localities for it are the Presidio in San Francisco County, and the Oakland Hills in Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Geographic distribution and petal color pattern suggest that Clarkia franciscana may be a self-pollinating derivative of C. rubicunda. If true, enzyme studies indicate that the origin is not recent.

Clarkia franciscana is in the Center for Plant Conservation’s National Collection of Endangered Plants.

(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.)
Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Rhodanthos > subsect. Primigenia Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Myxocarpa
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. epilobioides, C. exilis, 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. rostrata, C. rubicunda, C. similis, C. speciosa, C. springvillensis, C. stellata, C. tembloriensis, C. unguiculata, C. virgata, C. williamsonii, C. xantiana
Name authority H. Lewis & P. H. Raven: Brittonia 10: 7, fig. 1a, b, d. (1958) Douglas in W. J. Hooker: Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 214. (1832)
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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