''Clarkia australis'' is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name Small's southern clarkia. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where it grows in the forests of the central Sierra Nevada. It is an uncommon species threatened by such forest activities as logging. This annual herb produces a slender, erect stem approaching a meter in height. The leaves are widely linear in shape and borne on short petioles. The top of the stem is occupied by the tall

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

, which bears hanging buds that open from the lowest upward so that there are several closed buds above open flowers. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s do not remain fused as the flower opens. The petals are diamond-shaped and sometimes lobed and curling at the tip. They are mottled or spotted lavender, purple, and reddish in color, and each is up to 1.5 centimeters long. There are 8 long stamens tipped with large anthers bearing blue-gray pollen. The stigma protrudes past the anthers. This species of ''

Clarkia ''Clarkia'' is a genus within the flowering plant family Onagraceae. Over 40 species are currently classified in ''Clarkia''; almost all are native to western North America, though one species (''Clarkia tenella'') is native to South America. ...

'' is very closely related to '' Clarkia virgata'', and it has been suggested that it is not actually a separate species, but hybridization studies have demonstrated that there has been sufficient reproductive isolation to produce hybrid incompatibility between the two taxa, confirming that they should be treated as separate species.Gottlieb, L.D. & V.S. Ford. (1999). The status of ''Clarkia australis'' (Onagraceae). ''Am J Bot'' 86:428-435

References

External links

Jepson Manual ProfilePhoto gallery
Flora of California australis Plants described in 1971 {{Myrtales-stub