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Golden Gate National Recreation Area

Presidio Clarkia

Presidio Clarkia
Clarkia franciscana

Photo © Damien Raffa

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Presidio Clarkia
Clarkia franciscana

The Presidio clarkia is a member of the evening primrose family. It is a small annual herbaceous plant. The clarkia grows to 16 inches tall, with leaves which are very small and narrow, few in number, and beautiful lavender-pink petals, lighter in color toward the middle of the flower and with a reddish-purple basal spot; plants flower from May to July. 

Michael Chasse interprets Presidio Clarkia and San Francisco LessingiaThe population size fluctuates from year to year, and was particularly low before being protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1995. Urban development and invasive species are both considered threats to the remaining plants.

The Presidio Clarkia is found only in two locations in the Presidio and three locations in the Oakland Hills.  Its range is limited to grassland and coastal scrub. Like the Raven’s Manzanita, it grows in serpentine soils from weathered volcanic rocks. Also like the Raven's Manzanita, it was first identified by Peter Raven, the eminent botanist and San Francisco native.

The populations in the Oakland hills lie within 0.5 miles of each other; the largest within Redwood Regional Park; the other populations, one near the Oakland Hills Tennis Club and the other near Crestmont Drive, are both threatened by development plans.  A contested development project on Crestmont Drive was finally approved in June, 2007; environmentalists continue to monitor the Crestmont Drive development to protect the clarkia. The species was protected by the Endangered Species Act in 1995.

The Clarkia growing in the Presidio have benefited from conservation measures, focused on the grassland at Inspiration Point, including the installation of fencing and removal of adjacent Monterey pines; these efforts have increased both the total numbers and total area inhabited by the Clarkia.  During the summer of 2007, the Presidio Trust and National Park Service are testing new methods to control non-native plants, including small controlled fires, which will be set within a tall, portable metal box, to connect fragmented grassland areas.

Conservation Action Item

Inspiration Point is home to the Presidio Clarkia, where it is currently threatened by exotic plant species. Since 1994, the number of Presidio clarkia individuals has been monitored annually. Clarkia has risen tenfold at Inspiration point from a low of 4000 in 1998 to over 40,000, likely due to site stewardship and favorable rains. Help with habitat restoration efforts for the Presidio Clarkia in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

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Previous Comments

Posted by: Bill McClung | 2008-05-16 01:03:16

I am curious whether there have been any efforts to collect seed and grow Presidio Clarkia in new locations? And whether it is likely to do well in spare chert soil as well as serpentine?

The PC population at Chadbourne and Skyline is several miles south of a restortation project we are developing on KPFA land in Claremont Canyon.

 

Posted by: Steve Price | 2008-06-04 16:32:58

Saw the Presidio Clarkia at Inspiration Point on a beautiful day overlooking the ocean doing volunteer work to restore native habitat.

 

Posted by: stillbloom | 2008-06-27 23:40:30

Clarkia is still blooming in the Presidio near Inspiration Point as of last weekend. Check it out!