[Sidenote: =Clarkia=
_Clàrkia rhomboídea_
=Purple
Spring, summer
Northwest, Nev., Utah=]
Pretty and delicate and not nearly so conspicuous as the last, with a
slender, smooth, branching stem, one to three feet tall, with smooth
leaves, mostly alternate, nodding buds, and a few pretty flowers, about
three-quarters of an inch across. The sepals are reddish-yellow; the
petals pinkish-purple, often dotted with purple at base, with a short,
broad, toothed claw; the stigma magenta; the filaments purple, with
a whitish, hairy scale at the base of each; the anthers grayish, all
perfect; the capsule four-angled, slightly curved, about an inch long.
This grows in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges and
is widely distributed in Yosemite, but nowhere very abundant.
[Sidenote: =Pink Fairies=
_Clàrkia pulchélla_
=Pink
Summer
Northwest=]
Odd and exceedingly charming flowers, with very slender, very slightly
downy, purplish, branching stems, from six inches to a foot tall, and
smooth leaves. The flowers are fantastic in form, the airiest and most
fairy-like blossoms that can well be imagined, over two inches across,
their delicate petals with long, toothed claws and three lobes, bright
rose-pink, shading to a deeper tint at the base, the calyx slightly
downy and reddish. Four of the stamens are perfect and four are
rudimentary; the anthers are reddish; the pistil white; the capsule an
inch long, eight-angled, with a spreading stalk. It is a pretty sight
to see these gay flowers dancing in the wind on open mountain slopes.
_C. concínna (Eucharidium)_, of the Coast Ranges, is similar, equally
beautiful and even more brilliant in coloring; the flowers sometimes in
such quantities as to make patches of bright pink color, very effective
when growing among yellow Sedums, Scarlet Larkspurs, and scarlet Indian
Pinks, in shady mountain canyons.
[Illustration: Clarkia rhomboidea.