Clarkia mildrediae
Onagraceae tribe Onagreae
Mildred's clarkia
erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
petiole 15–40 mm;
blade elliptic to ovate, 3–6 cm.
alternate or basal;
stipules absent.
open racemes, axis recurved in bud, straight only 1–3 nodes distal to open flowers;
buds pendent, tip acute.
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.
usually actinomorphic, rarely slightly zygomorphic (in Oenothera), (3 or)4-merous;
stamens 2 times as many, or rarely as many, as sepals;
pollen usually shed in monads, rarely tetrads (Chylismia sect. Lignothera).
a dry capsule, usually dehiscent, sometimes indehiscent.
20–30 mm;
pedicel 0–5 mm.
brown or gray, 1.5–1.8 mm, scaly-echinate, crest 0.1 mm.
few to numerous, without hairs or wings, [very rarely with asymmetrical dry wing (Xylonagra)], or with dry (Oenothera), erose or smooth wing, or with thick, papillate wings (Chylismiella).
Clarkia mildrediae
Onagraceae tribe Onagreae
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.)
Genera 13, species 265 (12 genera, 199 species in the flora).
Onagreae account for more than half the total genera in Onagraceae and diversified from a center in southwestern North America (L. Katinas et al. 2004). Delimitation of the tribe by W. L. Wagner et al. (2007) differs from previous ones by the exclusion of Gongylocarpus, now in its own tribe, by the segregation of eight genera (Camissoniopsis, Chylismia, Chylismiella, Eremothera, Eulobus, Neoholmgrenia, Taraxia, and Tetrapteron) from Camissonia, and by the inclusion of three previously separate genera (Calylophus, Gaura, and Stenosiphon) in Oenothera. Within the branch of the family that lacks stipules (Gongylocarpeae, Epilobieae, and Onagreae), the last two tribes form a clade that has very strong molecular support (R. A. Levin et al. 2003, 2004), but no obvious morphological synapomorphy. The clade may be defined by a cytogenetic change from the base chromosome number of x = 11 found in Circaeeae, Gongylocarpeae, and Lopezieae, to x = 18 in Epilobieae, and x = 7 in Onagreae; however, these changes could also have occurred independently. Other than the new chromosome number x = 7, the only apparent morphological synapomorphy for Onagreae alone is pollen with prominent apertural protrusions (J. Praglowski et al. 1987, 1989), a character state also found in Circaeeae (Praglowski et al. 1994). The monophyly of Onagreae has moderate (Levin et al. 2004) to strong support (V. S. Ford and L. D. Gottlieb 2007).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
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