Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Clarkia heterandra

Clarkia similis

California gaura, heterogaura, mountain clarkia

Ramona clarkia
Stems

erect, to 60 cm, glandular puberulent.

erect, 30–90 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 5–20 mm;

blade lanceolate to ovate, 2–8 cm.

petiole to 8 mm;

blade narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, 2–4 cm.
Inflorescences

open racemes or panicles, axis straight;

buds erect.

open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;

buds pendent.
Flowers

sometimes autogamous;

floral tube 1–2 mm;

sepals reflexed together to 1 side;

corolla rotate, petals elliptic to obovate, tapered to claw;

stamens 8, unequal, anthers cream or light pink, inner ones smaller, sterile;

ovary subglobose, grooves obscure;

stigma not exserted beyond anthers.

floral tube 1.5–2 mm;

sepals reflexed together to 1 side;

corolla rotate to bowl-shaped, petals pale pink shading nearly white near base, purple-flecked, fading pink, oblanceolate or obovate to diamond-shaped, 6–10 mm;

stamens 8, unequal, outer anthers dark pink, inner smaller, paler;

ovary shallowly 8-grooved.
Capsules

2–3 mm, indehiscent, nutlike;

sessile or pedicellate (to 2 mm).

15–30 mm;

subsessile.
Seeds

1 or 2.

brown, 1 mm, tuberculate, crest inconspicuous.
2n

= 18.

= 34.

Clarkia heterandra

Clarkia similis
Phenology Flowering May–Jul. Flowering Apr–Jun.
Habitat Shady sites, woodlands, yellow-pine forests. Shady sites, oak woodlands, chaparral.
Elevation 500–2000 m. (1600–6600 ft.) 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clarkia heterandra occurs in southern Oregon and California, where it is known from the Klamath Ranges in Trinity County, widely in the Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountain area from Nevada to Kern counties, and in the South Coast and Transverse Ranges from San Luis Obispo to Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Prior to 1986, Clarkia heterandra was treated as the monotypic genus Heterogaura, thought to be possibly related to the genus Gaura (now a section of Oenothera) due to its similar indehiscent fruits. However, molecular data indicate that C. heterandra is clearly within Clarkia, most closely related to C. dudleyana and C. unguiculata, which suggests a possible hybrid origin at the diploid level (K. J. Sytsma and L. D. Gottlieb 1986, 1986b; W. L. Wagner et al. 2007). Clarkia dudleyana and C. unguiculata produce spontaneous hybrids when grown adjacent to each other if they come from allopatric populations.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Clarkia similis is known from southwestern California and northern Baja California, Mexico, mainly in the South Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular ranges, from Monterey and San Benito counties in the north to San Diego County in the south. Reports from the Southern Sierra Nevada Foothills in Kern County and the Sacramento Valley in Tehama County are not confirmed.

Clarkia similis is a tetraploid species derived through polyploidization following hybridization between C. epilobioides and C. modesta.

(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. Heterogaura Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Phaeostoma > subsect. Prognatae
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. gracilis, 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. speciosa, C. springvillensis, C. stellata, C. tembloriensis, C. unguiculata, C. virgata, C. williamsonii, C. xantiana
Synonyms Gaura heterandra, Heterogaura heterandra
Name authority (Torrey) H. Lewis & P. H. Raven: Madroño 39: 163. (1992) H. Lewis & W. R. Ernst: Madroño 12: 89. (1953)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers