Flora of North America species comparison

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

Diplacus mephiticus

Diplacus parviflorus

foul odor monkeyflower, skunky monkeyflower

island bush monkeyflower
Habit Herbs, annual. Subshrubs or shrubs.
Stems

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

erect to ascending-erect, 300–1200 mm, glabrous.
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.

cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade elliptic to broadly elliptic-oblanceolate or elliptic-lanceolate, 15–60 × 4–21 mm, margins entire or serrate, plane or revolute, apex acute to obtuse or rounded, surfaces glabrous.
Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

6–15 mm in fruit.
Flowers

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

2 per node, chasmogamous.
Styles

glabrous or sparsely glandular-puberulent.

minutely glandular.
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.

deep red to scarlet, throat sometimes orange, not spotted or striped, palate ridges red to orange-red, tube-throat 27–33 mm, limb 12–16 mm diam., bilabiate, lobes oblong, each truncate-entire to slightly emarginate.
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.

not inflated in fruit, 18–25 mm, glabrous, tube slightly dilated distally, lobes unequal, apex acute, ribs green, intercostal areas light green.
Capsules

5–8 mm.

14–21 mm.
Anthers

exserted, short-hirsute.

exserted, glabrous.
Stigmas

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

exserted, lobes equal.
2n

= 20.

Diplacus mephiticus

Diplacus parviflorus
Phenology Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug(–Sep). Flowering Mar–Aug.
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. Hillsides, canyons, rocky slopes and walls, bluffs, sea cliffs.
Elevation 1300–3700 m. (4300–12100 ft.) 10–400 m. (0–1300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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 parviflorus is known from four of the Channel Islands (Anacapa, San Clemente, Santa Cruz, and Santa Rosa).

Hybrids with Diplacus longiflorus occur on Santa Cruz Island; A. L. Grant (according to label data of collections) found these to be fairly common on open hillsides near Friar’s Harbor and Valdez, where the two species grew near each other though apparently separated in habitat, with typical D. parviflorus mostly in the canyons and D. longiflorus on open hillsides. She noted that the apparent hybrids were variable in all possible combinations of features of the leaves, calyces, and corollas, including color.

Mimulus parviflorus (Greene) A. L. Grant 1925, not Lindley 1825, pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 441. FNA vol. 17, p. 452.
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. mohavensis, D. nanus, D. ovatus, D. parryi, 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 aurantiacus var. parviflorus, M. flemingii
Name authority (Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) Greene: Pittonia 1: 36. (1887)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers