Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia lewisii

Clarkia williamsonii

Lewis' clarkia

Fort miller clarkia, Fort miller clarkia or fairyfan
Stems

erect, to 50 cm, puberulent to glabrate.

erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole to 7 mm;

blade narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, 2–5 cm.

petiole 0–10 mm;

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

open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;

buds pendent.

open racemes, axis straight;

buds erect, mucronate.
Flowers

floral tube 1.5–4 mm, with ring of hairs at distal margin inside;

sepals reflexed together to 1 side;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals pinkish lavender shading white near middle, base purplish red or with red line, sometimes reddish purple-flecked, 10–30 mm;

stamens 8, unequal, width of all filaments subequal or inner slightly thinner, outer anthers lavender, inner smaller, paler.

floral tube 7–13 mm;

sepals reflexed individually or in pairs, tips distinct in bud;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals usually lavender, white near middle with purple spot distally, rarely uniformly wine-red, 10–30 mm;

stamens 8, subequal;

ovary 8-grooved, shorter than adjacent internode;

stigma usually exserted beyond anthers.
Capsules

15–70 mm, beak 0–3 mm.

10–30 mm.
Seeds

brown, 1 mm, scaly to puberulent, crest inconspicuous.

brown or gray, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.1 mm.
2n

= 18.

= 18.

Clarkia lewisii

Clarkia williamsonii
Phenology Flowering Jun. Flowering Apr–Sep.
Habitat Coastal scrub, woodlands, chaparral. Foothill woodlands, yellow-pine forests.
Elevation 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.) 400–2000 m. (1300–6600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clarkia lewisii is known primarily from Monterey County, sparsely in San Benito County, barely reaching Santa Clara County, and is listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society. It is most closely related and morphologically similar to C. cylindrica, from which it can be distinguished by having all filaments about equally wide and a ring of hairs at the rim of the floral tube; outer filaments of C. cylindrica are two times as wide as the inner ones, and the ring of hairs is within the tube below the rim. Clarkia lewisii is also closely related to C. rostrata, from which it differs conspicuously by having a much shorter capsule beak.

Clarkia lewisii is a new name applied to the species known until 1978 as C. bottae, following examination and reinterpretation of the type of Godetia bottae Spach by P. H. Raven and D. R. Parnell (1978). They determined that the type specimens of G. bottae actually referred to the species then known as C. deflexa (Jepson) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis, and reapplied the name C. bottae to that species in sect. Fibula.

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

Clarkia williamsonii occurs widely along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada from Nevada to Kern counties, and the Tehachapi Mountains barely to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties (one collection each). There are unverified reports from Riverside and Shasta counties.

Clarkia williamsonii is similar to C. speciosa and some populations of the hexaploid C. purpurea but can be distinguished from the former by petal color pattern and from both by having sepals that have distinctly free tips in bud, a trait most obvious in pressed specimens when the tips tend to spread apart.

(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. Sympherica Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Godetia
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. heterandra, C. imbricata, C. jolonensis, C. lassenensis, 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. xantiana
Synonyms Godetia williamsonii
Name authority P. H. Raven & D. R. Parnell: Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 64: 642. (1978) (Durand & Hilgard) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Madroño 12: 34. (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).



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