General: Annual herb from a slender taproot; stems erect, 10-70 cm tall, usually simple or branched from the base, glabrous or hairy.
Leaves: Linear to lanceolate, 1.5-5 cm long, entire; usually unstalked.
Flowers: Inflorescence an open spike, loosely-flowered, buds erect; hypanthium 2-10 mm long; corollas bowl-shaped, tending to close at night; petals lavender to purple and often with a darker spot above, fan-shaped to elliptic, 5-15 mm long; sepals staying fused in 2's or coming free, usually bent back; fertile stamens 8, all alike; stigmas elliptic-oblong, about 1.5 mm long, lavender to purple or dark wine-red; stigma not exceeding anthers.
Fruits: Capsules, 1-3 cm long, round or 4-angled, ribbed, densely hairy, short-beaked.
1. Petals not narrowing to a claw at the base; flowers regular, closing at night.
2. Sepals usually joined and turned to one side; ovaries and immature fruits 4-grooved; stigmas 1-6 mm long........................C. amoena
2. Sepals staying fused in 2's or coming free, not turned to one side; ovaries and immature fruits 8-grooved, stigmas about 1.5 mm long...................C. purpurea
1. Petals with a distinct, narrow claw at the base; flowers slightly irregular, not closing at night.
3. Petals 3-lobed; fertile stamens 4; leaves often alternate........................C. pulchella
3. Petals not 3-lobed; fertile stamens 8; leaves opposite........................C. rhomboidea
Habitat / Range
Dry, grassy slopes in the lowland zone; rare in SW BC, known only from Mt. Tzuhalem and Saturna Island; S to AZ and CA.
In B.C., Clarkia purpurea can be distinguished from C. amoena by its sepals reflexed in twos at antithesis, its eight-grooved fruit, and its subglobose stigma subglobose that is not exerted beyond the anthers. The range of Clarkia purpurea does not overlap with the other Clarkia species (C. rhomboidea and C. pulchella), which are found in southeastern B.C. (Douglas et al. 1999; Wheeler 2004).
BC Ministry of Environment:BC Species and Ecosystems Explorer,
the authoritative source for conservation information in British Columbia.
Synonyms and Alternate Names
Clarkia quadrivulnera (Dougl. ex Lindl.) A. Nels. & J.F. Macbr. Godetia purpurea var. parviflora (S. Wats.) C.L. Hitchc. Godetia quadrivulnera (Dougl. ex Lindl.) Spach Godetia quadrivulnera var. vacensis Jepson
