| TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993) |
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Jepson Interchange (more information) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora. |
AND IS MAINTAINED FOR ARCHIVAL PURPOSES ONLY |
Annual to tree
Leaves basal or cauline, alternate, opposite, or whorled, generally simple and toothed (to pinnately compound); stipules 0 or generally deciduous
Inflorescence: spike, raceme, panicle, or flowers solitary in axils; bracted
Flower generally bisexual, generally radial, opening at dawn or dusk; hypanthium sometimes prolonged beyond ovary (measured from ovary tip to sepal base); sepals generally 4(2–7); petals generally 4 (or as many as sepals, rarely 0), often "fading" darker; stamens generally 4 or 8(2), anthers 2-chambered, opening lengthwise, pollen generally interconnected by threads; ovary inferior, chambers generally 4 (sometimes becoming 1), placentas axile or parietal, ovules 1–many per chamber, style 1, stigma 4-lobed (or lobes as many as sepals), club-shaped, or hemispheric
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal (sometimes berry or indehiscent and nut-like)
Seeds sometimes winged or hair-tufted
Genera in family: 15 genera, ± 650 species: worldwide, especially w North America; many cultivated (Clarkia, Epilobium, Fuchsia, Gaura, Oenothera )
Reference: [Munz 1965 North America Fl II 5:1–278]
Annual
Stem generally erect, < 1 m, slender; hairs 0 to dense, rarely glandular
Leaves cauline, alternate (or lowest subopposite), entire, petioled or not, narrow-lanceolate
Inflorescence: flowers axillary, pedicelled or not, opening at dawn
Flower: hypanthium inconspicuous; sepals 4, staying fused in 2's or all coming free; petals 4, 0.5–8 mm, white, with 1–2 yellow or greenish spots at base, fading pink or red; stamens 8, those opposite sepals larger, pollen ± yellow; ovary chambers 2, stigma generally not beyond anthers, generally touching them, generally ± spheric
Fruit: capsule, ± cylindric or flat; valves 4, all generally coming free, generally equal
Seeds few–many, generally all maturing, generally appressed to septum, alternate or subopposite between chambers, in each chamber generally in 1 row and generally not overlapped, 0.5–2.3 mm, ovoid, glabrous or hairy, brown or gray mottled with brown; appendages 0
Species in genus: ± 9 species: w North America, 2 South America
Etymology: (C. Gay, French author of Flora of Chile, 1800–1873)
Reference: [Lewis & Szweykowski 1964 Brittonia 16:343–391]
Self-compatible; taxa with petals < 3 mm self-pollinated.
| Native |
Stem < 60 cm; branches at base or not, generally forked above
Leaves 1–6 cm, generally reduced above
Inflorescence: 1st flower 1–20 nodes above base
Flower: petals 1.2–7 mm; larger stamens 0.9–6 mm; ovary hairy, stigma beyond anthers or not, hemispheric or not
Fruit 3–15 mm, sessile or generally > pedicel, cylindric, slightly to very knobby
Seeds 3–18, alternate or subopposite, in each chamber sometimes in 2 rows and overlapped, glabrous to densely puberulent
Chromosomes: 2n=28
Ecology: Common. Open montane forest, sagebrush scrub
Elevation: 800–3700 m.
Bioregional distribution: Northwestern California, Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: w US to British Columbia, Baja California
Complex from several 2n=14 species; subspp. may intergrade locally.