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 nanus

Diplacus bigelovii

dwarf monkey flower, dwarf purple monkey-flower, purple monkeyflower

Bigelow mimulus, Bigelow's monkeyflower
Habit Herbs, annual. Herbs, annual, herbage usually drying dark.
Stems

erect, 30–120 mm, minutely glandular-puberulent.

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

basal and cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, ovate, obovate, or elliptic-lanceolate, (1–)3–30(–50) × (0.4–)0.7–8(–20) mm, margins entire, plane, apex rounded or obtuse, surfaces minutely glandular-puberulent.

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.
Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

1–4(–8) 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

glandular-puberulent or glandular-pubescent.

glandular-puberulent.
Corollas

magenta to purplish, dark line often extending onto each abaxial lip lobe from throat, palate ridges yellow with red-purple speckling and border, throat floor villous with hairs extending onto abaxial lip, tube 1.1–1.9 mm diam. at filament insertion, tube-throat 11–15 mm, limb 8–14 mm diam., usually, rarely not, bilabiate.

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.
Calyces

symmetrically attached to pedicels, not inflated in fruit, 6–9 mm, minutely glandular-puberulent, lobes subequal, apex acute-apiculate, acuminate, or attenuate, ribs dark green or reddish, intercostal areas whitish.

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.
Capsules

8–12 mm.

(6–)7–13(–15) mm.
Anthers

included or exserted, ciliate.

included, glabrous, sometimes ciliate.
Stigmas

exserted, lobes equal.

included, lobes equal.
2n

= 16.

Diplacus nanus

Diplacus bigelovii
Phenology Flowering (Apr–)May–Jul.
Habitat Openings in sagebrush, disturbed slopes, granite outcrops.
Elevation (300–)1100–2300(–2900) m. [(1000–)3600–7500(–9500) ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Diplacus nanus is broadly distributed through northern California, southern Idaho, and eastern Oregon, with stations in Ravalli County, Montana, and Park County, Wyoming, and scattered localities in Washington.

Diplacus nanus is generally recognized by its strongly bilabiate corollas with purplish (not yellow) tubes and two dark purple patches along the sides of the throats. The glandular-puberulent vestiture of D. nanus contrasts with the glandular-pubescent and viscid-villous vestiture (with hairs much longer) of D. mephiticus.

W. L. Ezell (1971) noted that in the Siskiyou Mountains of Josephine County, Oregon, and adjacent Siskiyou and Trinity counties, California, corollas of Diplacus nanus do not have clearly differentiated abaxial and adaxial lips.

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

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.)
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. 440. FNA vol. 17, p. 434.
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. mephiticus, D. mohavensis, 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. 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
Subordinate taxa
D. bigelovii var. bigelovii, D. bigelovii var. cuspidatus
Synonyms Mimulus nanus, M. tolmiei Eunanus bigelovii, Mimulus bigelovii
Name authority (Hooker & Arnott) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 28. (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).



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 Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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