This section is from the book "The Standard Cyclopedia Of Horticulture Vol2", by L. H. Bailey. See also: Western Garden Book: More than 8,000 Plants - The Right Plants for Your Climate - Tips from Western Garden Experts.
(Capt. Wm. Clark, companion of Lewis, explorer of the Rocky Mt. region and beyond, 1806). Ona-grdcese. flower-garden annuals.
Herbs, with alternate mostly entire leaves, and showy flowers in the upper axils or in terminal racemes: flowers regular, the calyx tubular, the petals 4, narrow at the base and entire or lobed, wide-spreading; stamens 8, the alternate ones short or rudimentary; stigmas 4, large and spreading: pod oblong or. linear, 4-sided. - Half dozen or more species in W. N. Amer. See also Eucharidium.
Clarkias are hardy annuals of easy cultivation. They thrive in a warm, light soil, either fully exposed to the sun or in partial shade. They are useful for low masses or for edgings; also for vases and baskets. They have been much improved by domestication.
a. Stamens (8) all perfect: leaves broad.
Douglas (C. unguiculata, Lindl. C. nerii-fblia, Hort.). Fig. 979. From 1-6 ft. high, glabrous or nearly so, the stems reddish and glaucous, simple or sparingly branched: leaves broad-ovate to linear, remote-dentate: flowers purple or rose-colored, running into white vars.; double forms in cultivation; claw of the petal about as long as its rhomboidal entire limb: caps, sessile. B.M. 3592. B.R. 1575. R.H. 1845:385. Mn. 1:22. - One of the commonest annual flowers
Douglas. Not so tall and more slender: leaves thin, lance-oblong or ovate-oblong, entire: claw often toothed, shorter than the rhomboidal limb: caps, stalked. B.R. 1981. R.H. 1864:151 (?). - Not much cultivation.
Fig. 979. Clarkia elegans. (X 2/5) aa. Stamens 4 perfect and 4 rudimentary: leaves very narrow.
Pursh. Fig. 980. One ft. to 18 in. high, branchy, often tufted and dwarf, the stems mostly puberulent: leaves narrowly lance-oblong to linear, narrowed into a petiole, entire: flowers lilac, running into white vars.; petals 3/4va, or less long in wild plants, with 3 wide-spreading lobes and a pair of recurved teeth on the claw: caps, stalked. B.M. 2918. B.R. 1100. R.H. 1845:385; 1886, p. 557. - Common in cultivation There are semi-double and dwarf forms. variety holopetala, Voss (C. integripetala, Hort.) is a garden form or race with entire petals. There are also dwarf forms of it. The garden names kermesina and limbata belong with C. pulchella. L. H. B.
 
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