The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Bigelow mimulus, Bigelow's monkeyflower

southern bush monkeyflower

Habit Herbs, annual, herbage usually drying dark. Subshrubs.
Stems

erect, (10–)20–250(–320) mm, nodes 3–6, internodes 1–6 mm, glandular-pubescent to glandular-villous.

erect, 300–1000(–2000) mm, glandular-puberulent and short-villous.

Leaves

usually cauline, relatively even-sized or reduced distally;

petiole absent, bases of largest leaves often long-tapered to petiole-like extensions;

blade obovate, elliptic, or oblanceolate, (5–)7–35(–50) × (2–)3–18(–26) mm, margins entire, rarely toothed, plane, apex abruptly acuminate, acute-acuminate, or cuspidate to long-tapering or long-acuminate, surfaces glandular-pubescent.

usually cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade elliptic to lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or elliptic-oblanceolate, 25–65(–80) × 4–15(–25) mm, margins entire or serrate, revolute, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surfaces densely hairy, hairs branched, adaxial glabrescent.

Pedicels

1–4(–8) mm in fruit.

5–16 mm in fruit.

Flowers

2 per node, or 1 or 2 per node on 1 plant, chasmogamous.

2 per node, chasmogamous.

Styles

glandular-puberulent.

minutely glandular.

Corollas

magenta with dark reddish spot on each side of mouth on interior lateral walls of throat, usually with reddish lines extending from throat onto midveins of lobes, throat floor yellow with reddish speckling and variable reddish markings, palate ridges yellow, tube-throat (9–)12–22 mm, limb 12–24 mm diam., not bilabiate.

light orange to pale yellow-orange, palate ridges orangish, tube-throat 34–45 mm, limb (25–)28–40 mm diam., bilabiate, lobes oblong, apex of adaxial 2 each shallowly incised.

Calyces

symmetrically attached to pedicels, inflated in fruit, 6–13(–15) mm, glandular-pubescent, tube strongly plicate, lobes slightly recurved, narrowly triangular, subequal, often slightly indurate, apex acuminate to attenuate, ribs broad, darkened, blackish, thickened, strongly raised, intercostal areas whitish, membranous.

not inflated in fruit, 22–32 mm, glandular-puberulent and short glandular-villous to hirsute-villous, tube slightly dilated distally, lobes unequal, apex acute, ribs green, intercostal areas light green.

Capsules

(6–)7–13(–15) mm.

18–28 mm.

Anthers

included, glabrous, sometimes ciliate.

included, glabrous.

Stigmas

included, lobes equal.

included, lobes equal.

2n

= 20.

Diplacus bigelovii

Diplacus longiflorus

Phenology Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Jul.
Habitat Rocky hillsides and slopes, talus, chaparral, live oak woodlands.
Elevation (50–)100–1300(–1800) m. ((200–)300–4300(–5900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

Diplacus bigelovii is distributed in southeastern California from southern Mono County south to Imperial and San Diego counties through southern Nevada into Washington County, Utah, and La Paz and Mohave counties, Arizona. The relatively sharp line dividing the two varieties roughly follows the Inyo-San Bernardino county line, then cuts across Clark County, Nevada, and Mojave County, Arizona.

Diplacus bigelovii can generally be recognized by its relatively large, nearly radially symmetric corollas, included stigmas, and inflated mature calyces with lobes of unequal length and apices acuminate-attenuate. The two varieties have distinctive leaf shapes; D. M. Thompson (2005) reported them as very closely parapatric and exhibiting limited intergradation near their contiguous occurrence.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Diplacus longiflorus occurs in southwestern California and northeastern Baja California.

Plants and populations intermediate between Diplacus longiflorus and D. puniceus are found where their ranges meet in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties. The intermediate morphology and geography indicate that these are hybrids (as has been hypothesized by, for example, M. A. Streisfeld and J. R. Kohn 2005; D. M. Thompson 2005; M. C. Tulig and G. L. Nesom 2012), which have been identified as D. ×australis (McMinn ex Munz) Tulig. Streisfeld and Kohn found that in San Diego County, D. longiflorus and D. puniceus are discrete in morphology and separated in geography, with a narrow zone of hybrids and putative introgressants between.

Plants identified as Diplacus ×lompocensis McMinn (as species) occur where the geographic ranges of D. aurantiacus and D. longiflorus meet in Santa Barbara County and southern San Luis Obispo County; these plants have floral features intermediate between these two species. Stable populations of the putative hybrid are found throughout this region, although at either end of its distribution, the populations may more closely resemble the nearer parent. Considering that both D. aurantiacus and D. longiflorus are morphologically consistent across broad regions, D. ×lompocensis is perhaps best interpreted as a zone of introgression.

Diplacus ×australis and D. ×lompocensis are similar to D. longiflorus as well as to each other in most features; they are easily separated only by geographic range. Diplacus longiflorus is distinct from both in its larger corolla features and, frequently, calyx indument.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Leaf blades: distals gradually narrower than proximals, apices long-tapering or long-acuminate; internodes: proximals usually longer than distals.
var. bigelovii
1. Leaf blades: distals usually relatively broader than proximals, apices abruptly acute-acuminate, sometimes cuspidate; internodes usually subequal.
var. cuspidatus
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 434. FNA vol. 17, p. 450.
Parent taxa Phrymaceae > Diplacus Phrymaceae > Diplacus
Sibling taxa
D. angustatus, D. aridus, D. aurantiacus, D. bicolor, D. bolanderi, D. brandegeei, D. brevipes, D. calycinus, D. cascadensis, D. clevelandii, D. clivicola, D. compactus, D. congdonii, D. constrictus, D. cusickii, D. cusickioides, D. deschutesensis, D. douglasii, D. fremontii, D. grandiflorus, D. graniticola, D. jepsonii, D. johnstonii, D. kelloggii, D. layneae, D. leptaleus, D. linearis, D. longiflorus, D. mephiticus, D. mohavensis, D. nanus, D. ovatus, D. parryi, D. parviflorus, D. pictus, D. pulchellus, D. puniceus, D. pygmaeus, D. rattanii, D. rupicola, D. rutilus, D. thompsonii, D. torreyi, D. traskiae, D. tricolor, D. vandenbergensis, D. viscidus
D. angustatus, D. aridus, D. aurantiacus, D. bicolor, D. bigelovii, D. bolanderi, D. brandegeei, D. brevipes, D. calycinus, D. cascadensis, D. clevelandii, D. clivicola, D. compactus, D. congdonii, D. constrictus, D. cusickii, D. cusickioides, D. deschutesensis, D. douglasii, D. fremontii, D. grandiflorus, D. graniticola, D. jepsonii, D. johnstonii, D. kelloggii, D. layneae, D. leptaleus, D. linearis, D. mephiticus, D. mohavensis, D. nanus, D. ovatus, D. parryi, D. parviflorus, D. pictus, D. pulchellus, D. puniceus, D. pygmaeus, D. rattanii, D. rupicola, D. rutilus, D. thompsonii, D. torreyi, D. traskiae, D. tricolor, D. vandenbergensis, D. viscidus
Subordinate taxa
D. bigelovii var. bigelovii, D. bigelovii var. cuspidatus
Synonyms Eunanus bigelovii, Mimulus bigelovii D. arachnoideus, D. glutinosus var. pubescens, Mimulus aurantiacus var. pubescens, M. longiflorus
Name authority (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 28. (2012) Nuttall: Ann. Nat. Hist. 1: 139. (1838) — (as longiflora)
Web links