Clarkia pulchella

Clarkia pulchella also known as pinkfairies, ragged robin, and deerhorn clarkia is a species of flowering plant in the Onagraceae family. This wildflower is found in the Pacific Northwest and is the type species of Clarkia. It was first discovered by Meriwether Lewis close to Kamiah, Idaho during the Lewis and Clark expedition and it was subsequently brought back as a botanical specimen. The discovery was first described on May 28, 1806 by William Clark and subsequently by Lewis on June 1, 1806 in a journal entry stating that: It was not until 1814 however that the plant was classified and named Clarckia pulchella by Frederick Traugott Pursh in honor of Clark even though in his journal entry he acknowledged Lewis as the discoverer. At the time of its publication by Pursh it was the first species assigned to the newly created genus Clarckia. The genus was later renamed as Clarkia. Then in 1826 David Douglas brought back samples of the plant to England after an expedition to the northwest United States from 1824 to 1828. Clarkia pulchella is most famous for its use by botanist Robert Brown in the discovery of Brownian motion. Brown studied the pollen of Clarkia pulchella while immersed in water under the microscope. He used these pollen granules because they contain oblong particles, which he observed were 6 to 8 micrometres in length, and he thought that he could follow their progress during fertilization, which was the initial subject of his investigation. The plant is also known for its use by Newman and Pilson to demonstrate a causal relationship between genetic variation in a population and population survival.