Flora of North America species comparison

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Diplacus mephiticus

Diplacus mohavensis

foul odor monkeyflower, skunky monkeyflower

Mohave monkeyflower, Mojave monkey-flower
Habit Herbs, annual. Herbs, annual.
Stems

erect, (20–)30–150(–180) mm, glandular-pubescent and viscid-villous.

erect, (10–)20–100(–140) mm, terete.
Leaves

usually cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade ovate to oblong or narrowly elliptic to narrowly lanceolate, narrowly oblong, or linear, 10–25 × 1–5 mm, margins entire, plane, not ciliate, apex rounded to obtuse or acute, surfaces usually glandular-pubescent and (at least along veins) viscid-villous.

basal and cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade narrowly elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, (6–)7–27 × 1.2–8(–10) mm, margins entire, plane, apex obtuse to acute or acuminate, surfaces green, often red-purple tinted, usually glabrous, veins and margins glandular-puberulent or ciliate.
Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

2–5(–6) mm in fruit.
Flowers

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

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

glabrous or sparsely glandular-puberulent.

sparsely glandular-puberulent.
Corollas

of 2 color forms: (a) dark magenta, purplish, or reddish with palate ridges or whole throat floor yellow, red- or purple-dotted, lateral lobes yellowish inside and (b) yellow with red or purple spots on floor, tube-throat 8–12(–15) mm, tube 1.3–1.9 mm diam. at filament insertion, limb 5–12(–15) mm diam., bilabiate.

salverform-rotate, throat dark purplish brown without internal or external markings, floor purplish brown-pilose, lobes purplish brown basally with red veins, palate ridges absent, tube-throat 9–15(–18) mm, limb 8–11(–14) mm diam., not bilabiate.
Calyces

symmetrically attached to pedicels, slightly inflated in fruit, (3–)4–7(–9) mm, glandular-pubescent and viscid-villous (at least along veins), lobes subequal, apex acute to acuminate, ribs dark green to purplish, intercostal areas whitish.

asymmetrically attached to pedicel, inflated in fruit, 7–15(–16) mm, glabrous or with glandular-puberulent veins, lobes unequal, apex acuminate, ribs and intercostal areas purplish brown.
Capsules

5–8 mm.

(7–)8–13 mm.
Anthers

exserted, short-hirsute.

included, glabrous or with a few hairs at base of flower pair.
Stigmas

exserted or at opening of corolla tube-throat, lobes subequal to unequal, abaxial to 2 times adaxial.

included, lobes subequal.
2n

= 16.

Diplacus mephiticus

Diplacus mohavensis
Phenology Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat Openings in sagebrush, disturbed slopes, granite outcrops, serpentine substrates, gravelly and sandy soils, sandy moraines, pumice flats, gravelly washes, meadows, shadscale and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper and ponderosa pine woodlands. Gravelly hillsides and slopes, limestone, granite, fine gravel in wash bottoms and edges, commonly with Larrea.
Elevation 1300–3700 m. (4300–12100 ft.) 600–900 m. (2000–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Diplacus mephiticus occurs in eastern California and west-central Nevada.

Various synonyms treated here are in agreement with D. M. Thompson (2005). Mimulus coccineus (mostly from Eldorado to Tulare counties, California, and, apparently, including Eunanus angustifolius Greene from Mt. Rose, Nevada) includes relatively small, tufted plants at high elevations with relatively small calyces and relatively small, dark red-purple, strongly bilabiate corollas with prominently exserted stamens. Mimulus densus (mostly in Nevada and in Lassen, Nevada, and Plumas counties, California) includes taller plants at lower elevations with a strong tendency to produce populations with all individuals with larger, yellow, nearly regular corollas with more nearly included stamens. Typical Diplacus mephiticus has moderate-sized plants at medium elevations with magenta, bilabiate corollas.

The specific epithet mephiticus alludes to the musky odor of the plants; this has also been noted in plants of Mimulus coccineus and M. densus. Diplacus nanus, in which D. M. Thompson (2005) included D. mephiticus as a variety, apparently does not produce a mephitic odor. Diplacus cusickii also produces a mephitic odor (W. L. Ezell 1971).

The later homonym Mimulus angustifolius (Greene) A. L. Grant 1925, not Hochstetter ex Richard 1850, based on Eunanus angustifolius, pertains here.

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

Diplacus mohavensis is known from San Bernardino County.

Diplacus mohavensis is similar to D. pictus in features of corolla morphology and color patterning, and the pair sometimes has been segregated as Mimulus sect. Mimulastrum A. Gray (for example, by D. M. Thompson 2005). Molecular data (P. M. Beardsley et al. 2004) indicate that D. mohavensis arose from within sect. Eunanus. It is distinct from other species of sect. Eunanus (and similar to D. pictus) in its salverform-rotate corollas with an abrupt tube-throat transition and vein-patterned limb. In D. mohavensis, the limb is purplish brown basally with red, irregularly patterned veins fading into a wide, whitish distal border; in D. pictus, the limb is all white, and the purplish brown vein patterning is more regular and not fading distally.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 441. FNA vol. 17, p. 444.
Parent taxa Phrymaceae > Diplacus Phrymaceae > Diplacus
Sibling taxa
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. longiflorus, 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. longiflorus, D. mephiticus, 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
Synonyms Mimulus mephiticus, M. coccineus, M. coccineus var. wolfii, M. densus, M. nanus var. mephiticus, M. reifschneiderae, M. stamineus, M. washoensis, M. wolfii Mimulus mohavensis, Eunanus mohavensis
Name authority (Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) (Lemmon) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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