''Clarkia speciosa'' is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name redspot 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 is known from the Central Coast and mountains and from the

Sierra Nevada foothills :''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significan ...

. The plant is variable across its intergrading subspecies, taking a decumbent to erect form with a stem up to about half a meter long. The open or dense

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 ...

has opening flowers and several closed buds. As the bud opens 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 all separate from each other. The fan-shaped petals are up to 2.5 centimeters long and may be lavender to pink to deep red, sometimes fading to white or yellowish at the base. There is sometimes, but not always, a large bright red spot near the middle of the petal. There are four subspecies of this plant. One, ssp. ''immaculata'' (also sometimes called var. ''immaculata''), is known as the Pismo clarkia and is federally listed as an endangered species. It is known from about 20 occurrences on the coastline of

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra founded the Miss ...

near

Pismo Beach Pismo Beach (Chumash: ''Pismuʔ'') is a city in the southern portion of San Luis Obispo County, in the Central Coast area of California, United States. The estimated population was 8,072 at the 2020 census, up from 7,655 in the 2010 census. It ...

.California Native Plant Society
/ref> This subspecies takes a decumbent form and the petals lack the red spot. The subspecies ''nitens'' and ''polyantha'' are only found in the Sierra foothills.

References

External links

Jepson Manual ProfilePhoto gallery: ssp. ''immaculata''Photo gallery: ssp. ''speciosa''
speciosa Flora of California Plants described in 1953 Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Myrtales-stub