[Calico Flower: The Genus Downingia East of the Cascade Mts. of Oregon and Washington]

Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia

Downingia elegans

Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans

Close-up sideview of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

The photo above shows a close-up sideview of showy downingia as seen along the old highway to the southwest of Fishtrap Lake in eastern Washington...........June 2, 2008.


Close-up sideview of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans) Note the strongly two-lipped flower in the photo at right, along with the strongly curved anther tube. Photographed west of the Tom McCall Nature Preserve.
Characteristics:

Showy Downingia is a very attractive annual with several erect or ascending, simple or branched stems arising from 10-50 cm high. The herbage of typical plants is generally smooth, lacking hairs except around the hypanthium. The leaves are all sessile. The lower leaves are narrow and often deciduous by flowering time. The upper leaves range from 0.5- 2.5 cm long and up to 9 mm wide and are lanceolate to lance-ovate in shape.

The flowers are showy, with blue, pink or white ringing a white or yellowish central region. The corollas are 8-18 mm long and strongly two-lipped (See photos.) The calyx lobes are linear or narrowly elliptic in shape and range from 4-10 mm long. The anther tube is exserted from the tube and is fairly strongly incurved, the tip standing at a right angle to the filament tube (See photo at right and further below.).


Habitat:

Showy downingia may be found in vernal pools (usually as they are drying out), wet meadows, and edges of ponds and streams.


Range:

Showy downingia may be found from central and eastern Washington, Oregon, northern California, northern Idaho, and northern Nevada.


Frontal view of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans) - Close-up sideview of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

Close-up frontal and side views of the flower of showy downingia as seen along Kreps Lane at Conboy NWR.........July 2, 2006. Note the thick, incurved anther tube with several minute hairs at its tip.

Close-up sideview of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

Close-up sideview of the flower of showy downingia as seen along the old Sprague Highway west of Fishtrap Lake.........July 6, 2011. Note the thick, incurved anther tube exserted from the corolla and the long, thin inferior ovary subtending the petals.

Close-up sideview of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans) - Close-up frontal view of the flower of Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

Showy downingia as seen in vernally moist, alkaline soils along the old highway to the southwest of Fishtrap Lake in eastern Washington..........June 2, 2008. Closeflowered knotweed (Polygonum confertiflorum) can be seen at lower right in the photo at right.


Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans) - Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans) - Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

Showy downingia blooming enmasse in vernally moist pools along the Stubblefield Trail about one mile northwest of Stubblefield Lake, Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge........July 4, 2018.

Common Downingia, Elegant Calicoflower, Elegant Downingia, Showy Downingia: Downingia elegans (Synonyms: Downingia elegans var. brachypetala, Downingia elegans var. corymbosa, Downingia elegans var. elegans)

Note the long flower stems of showy downingia in the photo above.

Paul Slichter