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primrose monkey-flower

large mountain monkey-flower

Habit Mat-forming perennial from long, thin rhizomes, the stem lax, up to 6 cm. long. Rhizomatous perennials, rooting at nodes nearest the base, occasionally producing runners with creeping form and small leaves, forming colonies of mats, rhizomes threadlike; stems 3-10 cm, usually prostrate or with some curving upward distally, usually massed, round or somewhat flat, branching, may be glabrous or slightly hirtellous or with stalked glands.
Leaves

Leaves opposite, crowded near the ground, short-hairy abaxially (underside), viscid to glabrous adaxially (upperside);

leaves oblanceolate, sessile, nearly entire, 3-nerved from the base, 7-25 mm. long and 3-11 mm. wide.

Leaves both basal and cauline; petiolate, proximal petioles 2-5 mm, becoming sessile distally;

blade commonly purplish beneath, orbicular to ovate to narrowly elliptic, leaves nearest base somewhat lyrate, 3-12 mm and becoming larger farther from base, palmate venation with 3 veins, base wedge-shaped, margins entire to barely finely toothed, apex obtuse, somewhat puberulent above and beneath, hairs minute and stipitate-glandular.

Flowers

Flowers solitary on slender pedicels up to 10 cm. long arising from the leaf clusters;

calyx narrow, 4-8 mm. long, mostly glabrous, the 5 teeth short, equal;

corolla yellow, often dotted with maroon, 1-2 cm. long, scarcely bilabiate, the 5 lobes spreading, shallowly notched, the throat somewhat flaring;

stamens 4.

Axillary flowers 1-3, from nodes farthest from base, usually solitary; fruiting pedicels generally 10-30 mm, somewhat villous with short gland-tipped hairs, occasionally hirtellous;

calyx broadly bell-shaped, inflated, compressed along sagittal plane, 7-15 mm, glabrous or hirtellous or stipitate-glandular, throat closing, lobe pair nearest base curving upwards, other lobes 3-5 mm, prominently protruding;

corollas yellow with dark red spots, symmetric bilaterally, bilabiate;

tube-throat widely funnel-shaped to nearly cylindric, 15-18 mm, protruding beyond calyx margin; lower limb deflexed and spreading, upper limb curving upward, palate partially closed;

styles slightly hirtellous;

anthers not protruding, glabrous.

Fruit(s)

Capsule.

Capsules 4-5 mm, included.

Erythranthe primuloides

Erythranthe caespitosa

Flowering time June-August July-September
Habitat Wet meadows and boggy areas at middle to high elevations in the mountains. Wet meadows and wet, rocky slopes at high elevations in the mountains.
Distribution
Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east to Montana, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.
[WildflowerSearch map]
Occurring in the Olympics and Cascades mountains of Washington; British Columbia south to Oregon, east to Idaho.
[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. decora, E. dentata, E. floribunda, E. grandis, E. guttata, E. inflatula, E. jungermannioides, E. lewisii, E. microphylla, E. moschata, E. nasuta, E. patula, E. ptilota, E. pulsiferae, E. scouleri, E. suksdorfii, E. washingtonensis
E. alsinoides, E. ampliata, E. arvensis, E. breviflora, E. breweri, E. cardinalis, E. decora, 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
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