Clarkia purpurea
Onagraceae subfam. onagroideae
purple clarkia, winecup clarkia, winecup fairyfan
erect or rarely decumbent, to 100 cm, glabrous and sometimes glaucous or sparsely to densely puberulent, sometimes mixed with longer, spreading hairs.
petiole 0–2 mm;
blade linear or narrowly lanceolate to elliptic or ovate, 1.5–7 cm.
stipules present or absent.
open or dense racemes, axis straight;
buds erect.
floral tube 2–10 mm;
sepals reflexed individually or in pairs;
corolla bowl-shaped, petals lavender to purple, purplish red, or dark wine-red, often with red or purple spot near middle, tip, or base, 9–25 mm;
stamens 8, subequal;
ovary 8-grooved, length less than 8 times width;
stigma as long as or exserted beyond anthers.
floral tube present or, rarely, absent;
sepals 2 or 4 (very rarely 3), deciduous with floral tube, petals, and stamens;
petals yellow, white, pink, red, rarely in combination.
10–30 mm, beak 0–2 mm.
brown or gray, 1–2 mm, scaly, crest 0.2 mm.
Clarkia purpurea
Onagraceae subfam. onagroideae
Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora).
Clarkia purpurea consists of a diverse assemblage of hexaploid populations and is almost certainly derived from multiple origins followed by hybridization and, perhaps, backcrossing to parental species. Three morphological forms are recognized as subspecies; intergrades are frequent.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Genera 21, species 582 (16 genera, 246 species in the flora).
Onagroideae encompass the main lineage of the family, after the early branching of Ludwigia (R. A. Levin et al. 2003, 2004). This large and diverse lineage is distinguished by the presence of a floral tube beyond the apex of the ovary; sepals deciduous with the floral tube, petals, and stamens; pollen shed in monads (or tetrads in Chylismia sect. Lignothera and all but one species of Epilobium); ovular vascular system exclusively transseptal (R. H. Eyde 1981); ovule archesporium multicellular (H. Tobe and P. H. Raven 1996); and change in base chromosome number from x = 8 in Ludwigia to x = 10 or x = 11 at the base of Onagroideae (Raven 1979; Levin et al. 2003). Molecular work (Levin et al. 2003, 2004) substantially supports the traditional tribal classification (P. A. Munz 1965; Raven 1979, 1988); tribes are recognized to delimit major branches within the phylogeny of Onagroideae, where the branches comprise strongly supported monophyletic groups of one or more genera.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Leaf blades broadly lanceolate to elliptic or ovate; inflorescences dense racemes. | subsp. purpurea |
1. Leaf blades linear to lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate; inflorescences usually open racemes. | → 2 |
2. Petals 15–25 mm; stigmas exserted beyond anthers. | subsp. viminea |
2. Petals 9–14 mm; stigmas not exserted beyond anthers. | subsp. quadrivulnera |
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