Flora of North America species comparison

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Clarkia pulchella

deer horn, deerhorn clarkia, elk horn clarkia, elkhorns clarkia, large-flower clarkia, pink fairies, ragged robin
Stems

erect, to 50 cm, glabrous or puberulent.
Leaves

petiole 0–10 mm;

blade linear to lanceolate, 2–8 cm.
Inflorescences

racemes, axis straight or recurved;

buds pendent.
Flowers

floral tube minutely strigillose in distal 1/2 inside;

sepals reflexed together to1 side;

corolla rotate, petals very broadly fan-shaped, 10–30 mm, lateral lobes 1–5 mm;

stamens 8, unequal, 4 fertile, 4 sterile and reduced, subtended by puberulent scales, outer anthers lavender to white, inner much smaller, sterile;

ovary shallowly 8-grooved;

stigma exserted beyond anthers.
Capsules

10–30 mm;

pedicel 3–10 mm.
Seeds

dark brown, 1 mm, scaly, crest to 0.1 mm, inconspicuous.
2n

= 24.

Clarkia pulchella
Phenology Flowering May–Jul.
Habitat Openings in sagebrush and coniferous forests.
Elevation 500–2200 m. (1600–7200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
ID; MT; OR; SD; WA; WY; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Clarkia pulchella is the only North American species in the genus that does not occur in California; instead it is found throughout most of eastern Oregon and Washington, western Idaho, and northwestern Montana, to southern British Columbia, with disjunct occurrences in Bannock County in Idaho, Teton County in Wyoming, and Meade County in South Dakota. It was first discovered in 1806 by Meriwether Lewis during the Lewis and Clark expedition, and was the first species named in the new genus Clarkia.

Clarkia pulchella is an allopolyploid that combines morphological characteristics of sect. Myxocarpa (C. borealis and relatives), which includes two species with 2n = 10, and sect. Eucharidium (C. concinna and C. breweri) with 2n = 14. Molecular data support a relationship with sect. Eucharidium but at present show no direct association with sect. Myxocarpa.

Clarkia elegans Poiret is an illegitimate name that pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 10.
Parent taxa Onagraceae > subfam. Onagroideae > tribe Onagreae > Clarkia > sect. Clarkia
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. modesta, C. mosquinii, C. prostrata, 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
Name authority Pursh: Fl. Amer. Sept. 1: 260, plate 11. (1813) — (as Clarckia)
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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