Camissonia claviformis
Encyclopedia
Chylismia claviformis is a species of wildflower known as browneyes or brown-eyed primrose. It is an annual plant growing from a basal rosette of long oval leaves and producing stems often exceeding half a meter in height. Atop the stem is an inflorescence
of one to many primrose blooms, each with four white or yellow petals. The pistil
may be quite long and has a bulbous stigma at the tip. The stamen
s are somewhat shorter and they bear long hairy anthers containing white or yellow pollen. The floral axis at the junction of male and female parts is bright red to maroon or brown. This species is found across western North America from the Pacific Northwest
to northern Mexico.
There are many subspecies:
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
of one to many primrose blooms, each with four white or yellow petals. The pistil
Gynoecium
Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for all carpels in a flower. A carpel is the ovule and seed producing reproductive organ in flowering plants. Carpels are derived from ovule-bearing leaves which evolved to form a closed structure containing the ovules...
may be quite long and has a bulbous stigma at the tip. The stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s are somewhat shorter and they bear long hairy anthers containing white or yellow pollen. The floral axis at the junction of male and female parts is bright red to maroon or brown. This species is found across western North America from the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
to northern Mexico.
There are many subspecies:
- C. c. ssp. aurantiaca - found in desert regions
- C. c. ssp. claviformis - native to the Mojave DesertMojave DesertThe Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
and nearby - C. c. ssp. cruciformis - native to the Great BasinGreat BasinThe Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
region - C. c. ssp. funerea - native to the Mojave Desert
- C. c. ssp. integrior
- C. c. ssp. lancifolia - (lanceleaf browneyes) - California east of the Sierra NevadaSierra Nevada (US)The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, between the California Central Valley and the Basin and Range Province. The Sierra runs north-to-south, and is approximately across east-to-west...
- C. c. ssp. peeblesii - (Peebles' browneyes) - found in Arizona and New Mexico
- C. c. ssp. peirsonii - (Peirson's browneyes) - native to Southern California and northern Baja California
- C. c. ssp. rubescens - native to Arizona
- C. c. ssp. wigginsii
- C. c. ssp. yumae - (Yuma browneyes) - found in the Sonoran DesertSonoran DesertThe Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...