Clarkia modesta
Waltham creek clarkia
Family: Onagraceae · Type: annual · Native
Waltham creek clarkia is a California native annual found in northern coastal interior California, central and southern Sierra Nevada foothills, San Francisco Bay Area, and south coastal ranges in shady woodland places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces delicate pink flowers with darker flecks, 8 to 12 millimeters long in petals that rotate open and tend to fade to a deeper color. Growing with erect stems up to 70 centimeters tall and covered in fine soft hairs, it has a slender and graceful form. Its leaves are narrow and linear to lance-shaped, measuring 2 to 4 centimeters long with petioles less than 15 millimeters. The flower buds are distinctively pendant and recurved at the tip, with eight stamens and an eight-grooved ovary.
Habitat: Shady places in woodland
Bloom period: Apr-May
Elevation: < 1000 m
Bioregions: NCoRI, c&s SNF, SnFrB, SCoR.
California counties: Madera, Mariposa, Fresno, Tulare, Stanislaus, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Tehama, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Colusa, Lake, Trinity, Napa, Butte, Contra Costa, Glenn, Ventura, San Benito, Alameda, Siskiyou
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.