Clarkia epilobioides

Wiggins 1964, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Annual Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Erect annual usually branched sparingly from middle but sometimes profusely branched whole length, 10-70 cm long. Leaves: On slender petioles, 1-6 mm long, or leaves sessile, blades linear, lanceolate or spatulate, 2-6 mm wide, 1-4 cm long, acute to rounded at apex, gradually or abruptly narrowed to base, glabrous or minutely puberulent on margins. Flowers: Axillary, buds nodding, hypanthium 1-1.5 mm long, inner ring of hairs near summit; sepals united and turned to one side in anthesis, 3-5 mm long; petals obovate, 4-8 mm wide, 6-12 mm long, usually white faintly tinged with pink, sometimes pale lavender, basal spot present or absent, short-clawed; filaments 2-6 mm long, shorter ones about two-thirds as long as longer ones; anthers 1-1.5 mm long. Fruits: Linear capsule, 1-1.5 mm in diameter, 1.5-3 cm long, sparsely strigollose to glabrate at maturity. Ecology: Found on shaded hillsides and in damp or disturbed places from 1,500-3,000 ft (457-914 m); flowers March-May. Notes: The striking white flowers on the end of hypanthium help to distinguish this species. Told apart from C. purpurea by the united sepals, the nodding buds and the white flowers, with a capsule that is glabrous or very sparsely puberulent. Ethnobotany: Unknown, but other species in the genera have uses. Etymology: Clarkia is named for William Clark (1770-1838) of Lewis and Clark fame, while epilobioides means like the genus Epilobium. Synonyms: Godetia epilobioides Editor: SBuckley, 2010