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Ethan A. Winning
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Clarkia unguiculata - Mountain garland 5212
Clarkia unguiculata - Mountain garland 5212

Almost as rare as The Mt. Diablo Globe Lily was this Clarkia. Found no more than 50 feet apart and hanging from the bank of the trail, at the time I had never seen a flower like this. A month later, I found the Clarkia Elegans, but I'm showing this as a "public service" since there's the possibility that you might find this on Mt. Diablo as well.

Clarkia unguiculata is a species of wildflower known by the common name elegant clarkia or mountain garland. This plant is endemic to California, where it is found in many woodland habitats. Specifically it is common on the forest floor of many oak woodlands (Mt. Diablo, both oak woodlands and oak grassland is ideal), along with typical understory wildflowers that include Calochortus luteus, Cynoglossum grande and Delphinium variegatum.

I'm including this description because I had no idea what I was looking at when I first found this Clarkia. C. unguiculata presents a spindly, hairless, waxy stem not exceeding a meter in height and bears occasional narrow leaves. The showy flowers have hairy, fused sepals forming a cup beneath the corolla, and four petals each one to 2.5 centimeters long.The paddle-like petals are a shade of pink to reddish to purple and are slender and diamond-shaped or triangular. There are eight long stamens, the outer four of which have large red anthers. The stigma protrudes from the flower and can be quite large. Flowers of the genus Clarkia are primarily pollinated by specialist bees found in their native habitat (I have seen metallic green bees on this flower, but I don't know if that's what the author was referring to. Honestly, I still have problems with flower nomenclature especially with the new discovery of succulents with petals that are leaves...)

I was "into" birds, odonata, and wildflowers in 2009. I was just as excited over this discovery as almost anything else I "discovered" from 2008-2013.

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Taken on: June 18, 2009
Sets appears in:   • Wildflowers and Cultivars   
Groups appears in:   • Black BackGrounD    • Wildflowers    more » • The Magic of Nature    • form, shape, composition    • Nature, wildlife, and the great outdoors    • Composition(s)    • * Flowers on BLACK (only JET BLACK, not just any dark color)    • The Beauty of Nature    • Wildflowers (amateur only)    • Wildflowers: Western Region US    • From The Darkness    • Wild Nature    • Earth Images Nature Photography    • Black in the Back    • NATURE'S PAINTBRUSH    • Nature's Art Underfoot    • Nature's Patterns    • Nature For All: Flora & Fauna    • Geometry in Nature --->> Please not only flowers!    • Composition-Colour-Creativity (CCC)    « less
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX20 HS, f/5.8, 1/500 sec, 150.5mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon PowerShot SX20 HS
Aperture: f/5.8
Exposure Time: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length: 150.5mm
ISO: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: ACDSee Pro 6
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