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

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

Jepson's monkeyflower

Habit Herbs, annual. Herbs, annual.
Stems

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

erect, 10–150 mm, minutely glandular-puberulent.

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;

petiole absent;

blade narrowly elliptic-oblanceolate to narrowly oblanceolate, 6–22 × 1–5(–7) mm, margins entire, plane, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glandular-puberulent to glandular-pubescent.

Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

1 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 or glandular-pubescent.

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.

lavender-purple to rose purple, throat darker, palate ridges yellow, red-spotted, tube 0.8–1.2 mm diam. at filament insertion, tube-throat 7–10 mm, limb 5–7 mm diam., 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, not inflated in fruit, 3–5 mm, minutely puberulent, lobes subequal, apex acute to acuminate, ribs dark green to purplish, intercostal areas whitish.

Capsules

8–12 mm.

4–6 mm.

Anthers

included or exserted, ciliate.

exserted, sparsely hispidulous.

Stigmas

exserted, lobes equal.

exserted, lobes equal.

2n

= 16.

= 16.

Diplacus nanus

Diplacus jepsonii

Phenology Flowering (Apr–)May–Jul. Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Openings in sagebrush, disturbed slopes, granite outcrops. Gentle slopes, sandy and volcanic soils, meadows in spruce-fir forests, openings among pines and in chaparral, shallow drainage areas, disturbed open areas.
Elevation (300–)1100–2300(–2900) m. [(1000–)3600–7500(–9500) ft.] (900–)1100–2500(–2800) m. [(3000–)3600–8200(–9200) ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA; NV; OR
[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.)

D. M. Thompson (2005) treated Diplacus jepsonii as conspecific with D. nanus [as W. L. Ezell (1971) had done earlier] because of putative intergrades. In its typical form, D. jepsonii is immediately distinct in its narrower leaves, stems with well-separated proximal nodes, and smaller corollas with nearly filiform tubes. R. J. Meinke (1992), in a field and greenhouse study not cited by Thompson, found that D. jepsonii and D. nanus are distinct in morphology as well as in habitat and that the two do not grow intermixed in nature.

Diplacus jepsonii is known only from north-central California, southern Washoe County, Nevada, and southern Oregon. Putative outliers in the central Sierra Nevada are dubiously identified.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 440. FNA vol. 17, p. 442.
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. 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. 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
Synonyms Mimulus nanus, M. tolmiei Mimulus jepsonii, M. microcarpus, M. nanus var. jepsonii
Name authority (Hooker & Arnott) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) (A. L. Grant) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012)
Web links