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| Clarkia unguiculata |
| Family: Onagraceae (Evening Primrose) |
| Flowers — color: magenta, size: 1", type: 4 petals |
I started this project to identify local wildflowers, learn their qualities, and appreciate their beauty. When I found this plant, I felt I had hit a grand slam.
Elegant Clarkia has four long magenta petals, each nearly an inch long. They are spade-like, narrow from the base and a large triangular tip. The petals do not form a square, but a rectangle, wider than tall. The fertile parts project forwards:
- Stamens
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-
long—four red with long red anthers and violet pollen
short—four pink with arrowhead anthers - Pistil
- pink with rounded stigma
The flowers grow from the upper leaf nodes as a spike, linear array with flowers attached directly to the stem. Lower leaves wither as the top blooms, June to July.
Habit:
Elegant Clarkia is an annual herb, native and endemic to California. The main stem rises 1/2–4 ft. Small specimens remain single, but larger ones branch occasionally. I found one plant whose main stem was clipped by a browsing deer and it produced five lateral blooming branches. The narrow leaves are lanceolate [shaped like a lance head, rounded base and sharper tip] and attach directly to the stem. The stems and leaves lack hair, but the seedpods are quite fuzzy.
Clarkia in the common and scientific names honors the explorer William Clark. The British have taken this clarkia and hybridized versions with double and triple petals for their flower gardens. Part shade to sunny in grassy areas. Shadier conditions may produce smaller specimens, and consequently smaller blooms.
Observations:
Along Burton Mesa Rd. near Clubhouse