Purple Clarkia, Clarkia purpurea

About Purple Clarkia (Clarkia purpurea) 11 Nurseries Carry This Plant

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Clarkia purpurea is a species of wildflower in the Onagraceae (Evening Primrose) family known by the common names Winecup Clarkia, Winecup Fairyfan, and Purple Clarkia. This plant is native to western North America where it is found in a variety of habitats. Within California it is very widespread, occurring all along the coast, in the Coast Ranges, Central Valley and Sierra foothills. There are three subspecies with differences in the flower color and with overlapping ranges. This plant erects a thin reddish stem which may approach a meter in height and has a few lance-shaped leaves. The bowl-shaped flowers have four petals usually one to two centimeters long and in shades of pink, purple, or deep wine red, often with a streak or spot of pink or red in the middle. In the garden it is almost always grown from seed and is included in many commercially available wildflower seed mixes.

Plant Description

Plant Type

Annual herb

Size

3.3 ft tall
1 ft wide

Flower Color

Lavender, Pink, Purple, Red

Flowering Season

Spring, Summer

Wildlife Supported

Primarily insects
Butterfly gardens

Butterflies & moths hosted ( 5 likely * ) SHOW ALL

White-lined Sphinx Hyles lineataHyles lineata

Pacific Green Sphinx Moth Proserpinus lucidusProserpinus lucidus

Clark's Day Sphinx Moth Proserpinus clarkiaeProserpinus clarkiae

Mariposa Forester Alypia mariposaAlypia mariposa

Aetole extraneellaAetole extraneella

Landscaping Information

Sun

Full Sun

Moisture

Low

Summer Irrigation

Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries

Carried by 11

Ease of Care

Moderately Easy

Cold Tolerance

Tolerates cold to 5° F

Soil Drainage

Fast, Medium, Slow

Soil Description

Adaptable. Soil PH: 6.0 - 7.5

Common uses

Butterfly Gardens, Bee Gardens

Companion Plants

Use with other annuals or perennial herbs such as California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Lupine (Lupinus sp.), and Tidy Tips (Layia platyglossa).

Propagation?

From seed

Natural Setting

Site Type

Open, grassy or shrubby places

Climate

Annual Precipitation: 5.9" - 133.4", Summer Precipitation: 0.14" - 3.85", Coldest Month: 29.9" - 57.7", Hottest Month: 55.4" - 83.7", Humidity: 0.02" - 33.99", Elevation: -3814" - 7897"

Alternative Names

Common Names: Winecup Clarkia, Winecup Fairyfan

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Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links: Jepson eFlora Taxon Page CalPhotos Wikipedia Calflora

Purple Clarkia

Clarkia purpurea

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Purple ClarkiaClarkia purpurea

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Purple Clarkia

Clarkia purpurea