Waltham Creek clarkia

Stems erect, 20–70 cm, puberulent. Leaves: petiole 5–15 mm; blade linear to narrowly lanceolate or elliptic, 2–4 cm. Inflorescences open racemes, axis recurved at tip in bud; buds pendent. Flowers: floral tube 1–3 mm; sepals reflexed together to 1 side; corolla generally rotate, petals usually arranged in lat­eral pairs, pink, usually darker flecked, oblanceolate to diamond-shaped, scarcely clawed, 8–12 mm; stamens 8, unequal, outer anthers lavender, inner smaller, paler. Capsules 15–30 mm. Seeds brown, 0.8–1 mm, tuberculate, crest inconspicuous. 2n = 16.

Flowering Apr–Jun. Sandy places in woodlands; 0–1000 m; Calif.

Clarkia modesta occurs mainly in the Inner North Coast Ranges, the San Francisco Bay area, and the South Coast Ranges, from Trinity to Santa Barbara counties, and in the central and southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, from Mariposa to Tulare counties.

Clarkia modesta is one of the parents of the tetra­ploid species C. similis, from which it differs by having darker pink petals.