Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia mildrediae

Clarkia prostrata

Mildred's clarkia

prostrate clarkia
Stems

erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.

prostrate or decumbent, to 50 cm, sparsely puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 15–40 mm;

blade elliptic to ovate, 3–6 cm.

sessile or subsessile;

blade oblanceolate to elliptic, 1–2.5 cm, apex usually obtuse.
Inflorescences

open racemes, axis recurved in bud, straight only 1–3 nodes distal to open flowers;

buds pendent, tip acute.

prostrate, dense racemes, axis straight;

buds erect.
Flowers

floral tube 2–3 mm;

sepals usually reflexed individually;

corolla rotate, petals reddish purple, often darker flecked or spotted, narrowly obdeltate to suborbiculate, unlobed, 11–25 × 7–18 mm, length 1.4–1.6 times width;

stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, anthers magenta or orange-red to yellow, pollen blue-gray or bright yellow to tan;

ovary shallowly 4-grooved, puberulent;

stigma exserted beyond anthers.

floral tube 4–7 mm;

sepals usually reflexed in pairs;

corolla bowl-shaped, petals lavender-pink shading pale yellow basally, with reddish purple spot above base, 10–15 mm;

stamens 8, subequal;

ovary 8-grooved;

stigma not exserted beyond anthers.
Capsules

20–30 mm;

pedicel 0–5 mm.

20–30 mm.
Seeds

brown or gray, 1.5–1.8 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm.

brown or gray, 1–1.5 mm, scaly, crest 0.2 mm.
2n

= 52.

Clarkia mildrediae

Clarkia prostrata
Phenology Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Coastal bluffs in grasslands and closed-cone pine forests.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from USDA
California
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Clarkia mildrediae is closely related to, and may be derived from, C. borealis. Clarkia mildrediae subsp. lutescens is probably the direct ancestor of C. stellata. Clarkia mildrediae differs from C. borealis in petal color and inflorescence habit and from C. stellata in flower size and position of the stigma. On the basis of morphology, chromosome number and pairing, C. mildrediae appears to be one of the parents of the tetraploid species C. rhomboidea.

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

Clarkia prostrata, like C. davyi, occurs only on coastal bluffs and adjacent low elevation pine forests along the Pacific coast, and in this case only in the California Central Coast Subregion in Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and San Luis Obispo counties.

Clarkia prostrata is a hexaploid that combines the tetraploid genome of C. davyi and the diploid genome of C. speciosa. Clarkia prostrata is morphologically and ecologically very similar to C. davyi but can usually be distinguished by its larger flowers with a spot on each petal. It differs from C. speciosa by having smaller flowers with the stigma not exserted beyond the anthers.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petals 12–18 mm wide; anthers magenta, fresh pollen blue-gray.
subsp. mildrediae
1. Petals 7–16 mm wide; anthers yellow to orange-red, fresh pollen bright yellow to tan.
subsp. lutescens
Source FNA vol. 10. FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Myxocarpa 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. lewisii, C. lingulata, 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. 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. mildrediae subsp. lutescens, C. mildrediae subsp. mildrediae
Synonyms Phaeostoma mildrediae
Name authority (A. Heller) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Madroño 12: 34. (1953) H. Lewis & M. E. Lewis: Madroño 12: 36. (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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