Flora of North America species comparison

Clarkia modesta occurs mainly in the Inner North Coast Ranges, the San Francisco Bay area, and the South Coast Ranges, from Trinity to Santa Barbara counties, and in the central and southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, from Mariposa to Tulare counties.

Clarkia modesta is one of the parents of the tetraploid species C. similis, from which it differs by having darker pink petals.

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

Clarkia lassenensis is found primarily in the northeastern counties of California, south-central counties of Oregon, and northwestern counties of Nevada, with a few outlier collections from Alpine and Placer counties in the Sierra Nevada, and from northern Mendocino and Glenn counties in the North Coast Ranges.

Clarkia lassenensis is morphologically most similar to C. arcuata and C. gracilis. At one time, C. lassenensis was considered a probable parent of the tetraploid C. gracilis but cytogenetic and molecular sequence data indicate that an unknown related species, presumably now extinct, was involved. Clarkia lassenensis can be distinguished readily from C. arcuata by flower size, position of the stigma, and pubescence of the immature capsule, and from C. gracilis by having immature capsules with eight grooves rather than four.

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