Clarkia exilis

Slender clarkia, Slender Clarkia

Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Slender clarkia is a California native annual found in southern Sierra Nevada foothills and Tehachapi Mountains in woodland habitats at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces lavender, pink, or white flowers 5 to 15 millimeters long, often featuring a distinctive dark purple spot on the petal blade. Growing with erect glaucous stems less than 1 meter tall, it has a slender, upright form. Its bright green leaves are lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 1 to 6 centimeters long, with petioles shorter than 5 millimeters or absent. The fruit develops 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, with a narrow width of approximately 2 millimeters.

Habitat: Woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: s SNF, Teh.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.