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sharp-leaved monkey-flower, showy monkey-flower

great purple monkey-flower

Habit Rhizomatous perennials, occasionally producing many long runners from nodes near base; stems 20-100 cm, erect, not branched, ends of stems densely pubescent with minute and somewhat rigid hairs. Perennial from stout, branching rhizomes, the stout stems clustered, 3-10 dm. tall; herbage viscid-villous.
Leaves

Leaves mostly cauline, basal leaves generally not persistent;

petioles 8-25 mm near base, 3-5 mm mid-stem, sessile distally;

blade ovate-triangular to ovate-lanceolate, typically 20-50 mm long and 10-30 mm broad, palmate venation with 5-7 veins, base rounded to truncate to shallowly cuneate, margins sharply toothed, apex acute, surfaces occasionally becoming glabrous, distalmost surfaces hairy as stems.

Leaves opposite, sessile, with several prominent veins from the base, irregularly dentate to entire, the lower ones reduced;

leaves lanceolate to ovate or elliptic, acute, 3-7 cm. long and 1-3.5 cm. wide.

Flowers

Axillary flowers generally 2-7, emerging from nodes at ends of stems; fruiting pedicels 18-35 mm, distalmost pedicels hairy as stems with hairs often barely deflexed;

calyx green with occasional red spots, ovoid, inflated, compressed across sagittal plane, 15-19 mm, hairy as stems, throat closing, lobe margins villous;

corollas yellow, throat commonly red-spotted, symmetric bilaterally, bilabiate;

tube-throat widely funnel-shaped, 18-26 mm, protruding 10-15 mm beyond calyx margin;

limb expanded 22-30 mm;

styles prominently hirsute to villous;

anthers not protruding, glabrous.

Flowers solitary in the leaf axils on pedicels 3-6 cm. long;

calyx 1.5-2.5 cm. long, the 5 teeth sharp-pointed and equal;

corolla showy, purplish-pink, marked with yellow, 3.5-5 cm. long, strongly bilabiate;

stamens 4.

Fruit(s)

Capsules 8-10 mm, included.

Capsule.

Erythranthe decora

Erythranthe lewisii

Flowering time May-August June-August
Habitat Moist to wet open areas from the lowlands to middle elevations in the mountains. Common in wet meadows and along rivers and streams from middle to high elevations in the mountains, occasionally found along low elevation rivers.
Distribution
Occurring chiefly west of the Cascades crest in Washington; southern British Columbia to southwestern Oregon, also in northern Idaho.
[WildflowerSearch map]
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east to Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.
[WildflowerSearch map]
Origin Native Native
Conservation status Not of concern Not of concern
Sibling taxa
E. alsinoides, E. ampliata, E. arvensis, E. breviflora, E. breweri, E. caespitosa, E. cardinalis, E. dentata, E. floribunda, E. grandis, E. guttata, E. inflatula, E. jungermannioides, E. lewisii, E. microphylla, E. moschata, E. nasuta, E. patula, E. primuloides, E. ptilota, E. pulsiferae, E. scouleri, E. suksdorfii, E. washingtonensis
E. alsinoides, E. ampliata, E. arvensis, E. breviflora, E. breweri, E. caespitosa, E. cardinalis, E. decora, E. dentata, E. floribunda, E. grandis, E. guttata, E. inflatula, E. jungermannioides, E. microphylla, E. moschata, E. nasuta, E. patula, E. primuloides, E. ptilota, E. pulsiferae, E. scouleri, E. suksdorfii, E. washingtonensis
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