''Clarkia borealis'' is a rare species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name northern 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 elsew ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where it is known from the forests of the southern

Klamath Range The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

and the southernmost Cascade Range foothills. It is an annual herb growing an erect, slender stem. The leaves are oval in shape and borne on short petioles. The top of the stem is occupied by the

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

, in which the lowest flowers open first and hanging, pointed flower buds occur at nodes at the top. 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 coined b ...

s separate as the flower blooms, revealing purplish pink petals. Each petal is between 1 and two centimeters long, elongated triangular to semicircular in shape, and sometimes flecked with dark purple. There are 8

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s with anthers bearing blue-gray

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by seed plants. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophyt ...

, and a protruding stigma. Both subspecies of this plant are rare. ssp. ''biloba'' is known from only about 20 occurrences in Shasta and Trinity Counties, and the even less common ssp. ''arida'', the Shasta clarkia, is known only from the forests around Shingletown.

References

External links

Jepson Manual ProfilePhoto gallery: ssp. ''borealis''

borealis Borealis (Latin for ''northern'' or ''of the north'') may refer to: Astronomy * Borealis Basin or North Polar Basin, a basin on the planet Mars * Borealis quadrangle, an area on the planet Mercury ** Borealis Planitia, a basin within the quadran ...

Flora of California Plants described in 1971 {{Myrtales-stub