Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia gracilis

graceful clarkia, slender clarkia, slender godetia
Stems

erect, to 90 cm, glabrous or puberulent.
Leaves

petiole to 11 mm;

blade linear to narrowly lanceolate, 2–7 cm.
Inflorescences

racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;

buds pendent.
Flowers

floral tube 1.5–10 mm;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals pink to lavender or light purple, often lighter toward base, unspotted or with red spot near middle or base, obovate or obdeltate, 6–40 mm;

stamens 8, subequal;

ovary 4-grooved, puberulent;

stigma exserted or not beyond anthers.
Capsules

25–50 mm, usually wider distally;

pedicel 0–10 mm.
Seeds

brown or mottled with dark spots, 1.5–2 mm, scaly, crest 0.1 mm.

Clarkia gracilis
Distribution
from USDA
w United States
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 4 (4 in the flora).

Clarkia gracilis is a tetraploid derived from C. amoena and an unknown, presumably extinct, species related to C. arcuata and C. lassenensis. Clarkia gracilis is readily distinguished from C. amoena by the axis of the inflorescence in bud, which is not recurved in C. amoena; it is distinguished from C. arcuata and C. lassenensis by its four rather than eight-grooved ovary.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Stigmas not exserted beyond anthers; petals 6–23 mm.
subsp. gracilis
1. Stigmas exserted beyond anthers; petals20–40 mm.
→ 2
2. Petals with red spot near mid blade, base of blades white.
subsp. sonomensis
2. Petals unspotted, base of blades red or bright red.
→ 3
3. Petals 20–30 mm.
subsp. tracyi
3. Petals 30–40 mm.
subsp. albicaulis
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Rhodanthos > subsect. Jugales
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. franciscana, 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
Subordinate taxa
C. gracilis subsp. albicaulis, C. gracilis subsp. gracilis, C. gracilis subsp. sonomensis, C. gracilis subsp. tracyi
Synonyms Godetia gracilis, G. amoena var. gracilis
Name authority (Piper) A. Nelson & J. F. Macbride: Bot. Gaz. 65: 63. (1918)
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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