Plant Wiki

The open plant encyclopedia

Know any plant.
Grow it well.

Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.

  • 13,000+plants with full pages
  • 365,000+plant species worldwide
  • 220+countries covered

Common in

See all

The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.

What do you want to do?

Popular plants

Browse all plants

See them in 3D

All plants in 3D

Browse plants

Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.

Plant Wiki › Browse plants

Small's southern clarkia

Clarkia australis

Small's southern clarkia is an annual wildflower native to the forests of the central Sierra Nevada in California, grown for its spotted lavender to purple flowers. It is a rare species threatened by logging, so it is grown mainly in gardens and native plant collections.

Family
Onagraceae (Evening-primrose family)
Grows as
Annual
Light
Part shade
Water
Keep soil moist during the growing season, then let it dry as the plant finishes.
Soil
Well-drained, moderately fertile soil, such as a loam with some organic matter.
Temperature
10–25 °C; protect from frost.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
C. California
Climate
subtropical

About

Clarkia australis is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name Small's southern clarkia. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the forests of the central Sierra Nevada. It is an uncommon species threatened by such forest activities as logging. This annual herb produces a slender, erect stem approaching a meter in height. The leaves are widely linear in shape and borne on short petioles. The top of the stem is occupied by the tall inflorescence, which bears hanging buds that open from the lowest upward so that there are several closed buds above open flowers. The sepals do not remain fused as the flower opens. The petals are diamond-shaped and sometimes lobed and curling at the tip. They are mottled or spotted lavender, purple, and reddish in color, and each is up to 1.5 centimeters long.

Other Clarkia plants

Chaparral clarkia · Farewell to spring · Glandular clarkia · Twolobe clarkia · Northern clarkia · Botta's clarkia · Fairy fans · Red ribbons · Speckled clarkia · Davy's clarkia · Campo clarkia · Dudley's clarkia

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Clarkia australis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

Credits & terms

Identify a plant

Point at a leaf or flower and snap. One plant in frame works best.

Your photo
Starting camera…