Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia modesta

Clarkia virgata

Waltham Creek clarkia

clarkia, Sierra clarkia
Stems

erect, 20–70 cm, puberulent.

erect, to 100 cm, puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 5–15 mm;

blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or elliptic, 2–4 cm.

petiole 15–50 mm;

blade elliptic to ovate, 2–5 cm.
Inflorescences

open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud;

buds pendent.

open racemes, axis recurved only at tip in bud, straight 4+ nodes distal to open flowers;

buds pendent, narrowly obovoid, tip obtuse.
Flowers

floral tube 1–3 mm;

sepals reflexed together to 1 side;

corolla generally rotate, petals usually arranged in lateral pairs, pink, usually darker flecked, oblanceolate to diamond-shaped, scarcely clawed, 8–12 mm;

stamens 8, unequal, outer anthers lavender, inner smaller, paler.

floral tube 2–4 mm;

sepals reflexed individually;

corolla rotate, petals lavender-purple, mottled or spotted with reddish purple, ± rhombic, unlobed, 7–14 × 3–7 mm, length 1.9–3 times width;

stamens 8, subequal, subtended by ciliate scales, pollen blue-gray;

ovary shallowly 4-grooved;

stigma not or rarely exserted beyond anthers.
Capsules

15–30 mm.

10–20 mm;

pedicel 1–4 mm.
Seeds

brown, 0.8–1 mm, tuberculate, crest inconspicuous.

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

= 16.

= 10.

Clarkia modesta

Clarkia virgata
Phenology Flowering Apr–Jun. Flowering Jun–Jul.
Habitat Sandy places in woodlands. Yellow-pine forests, foothill woodlands.
Elevation 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.) 400–1100 m. (1300–3600 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 virgata is known primarily from El Dorado to Tuolumne counties in the north-central Sierra Nevada range, with scattered collections to Mariposa and Yuba counties.

Clarkia virgata is very similar to C. mosquinii and C. australis and is probably derived from the former through chromosome reduction in number and rearrangement and may be ancestral to the latter, which differs in chromosome arrangement. Experimental hybrids in all combinations have very low fertility. The three species are difficult to distinguish morphologically but replace one another ecogeographically with C. australis in the south and C. virgata in the middle with non-overlapping distributions. Other than geographical distribution, C. virgata is usually distinguishable from C. mosquinii by having narrower petal blades and from C. australis by having broader leaves.

(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. Lautiflorae Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Myxocarpa
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. mildrediae, 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. williamsonii, C. xantiana
Name authority Jepson: Man. Fl. Pl. Calif., 673. (1925) Greene: Erythea 3: 123. (1895)
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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