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

Carson monkeyflower, eggleaf monkeyflower, steamboat monkeyflower

Habit Herbs, annual. Herbs, annual.
Stems

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

erect to ascending, 20–140 mm, distal internodes 1–3 mm, glandular-pubescent and short 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 slightly reduced distally;

petiole absent, base sometimes tapered to narrow, petiole-like extension;

blade obovate to broadly oblanceolate, 13–33 × 5–12(–16) mm, margins entire, plane, apex acuminate, surfaces densely glandular-villous.

Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

2–3(–5) 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 to red-purple with a yellow patch on palate, sometimes yellow with a red-brown patch, palate ridges orange-yellow, tube-throat 9–11 mm, limb 12–15 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, 7–9(–10) mm, coarsely glandular-pubescent, lobes subequal, apex lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, ribs purplish, intercostal areas white.

Capsules

8–12 mm.

6–8 mm.

Anthers

included or exserted, ciliate.

exserted, sparsely hirsutulous.

Stigmas

exserted, lobes equal.

exserted, lobes subequal.

2n

= 16.

Diplacus nanus

Diplacus ovatus

Phenology Flowering (Apr–)May–Jul. Flowering Apr–Jun(–Aug).
Habitat Openings in sagebrush, disturbed slopes, granite outcrops. Dry to moist, often barren, loose, sandy to gravelly slopes, andesite or rhyolite deposits, sandy alkaline valley floors, roadsides, washes, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper, open yellow pine woodlands.
Elevation (300–)1100–2300(–2900) m. ((1000–)3600–7500(–9500) ft.) 1300–1900(–2400) m. (4300–6200(–7900) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county 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.)

Mimulus ovatus was treated as a distinct species by N. H. Holmgren (1984); the plants were considered by D. M. Thompson (2005) to be hybrids between M. nanus var. mephiticus and M. cusickii, and he placed the name as a synonym of M. cusickii. Diplacus ovatus is known only from Carson City, Douglas, and southern Washoe counties.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 440. FNA vol. 17, p. 440.
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. jepsonii, D. johnstonii, D. kelloggii, D. layneae, D. leptaleus, D. linearis, D. longiflorus, D. mephiticus, D. mohavensis, D. nanus, 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 bigelovii var. ovatus, M. ovatus
Name authority (Hooker & Arnott) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) (A. Gray) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29; 2012-47: 3. (2012)
Web links