Flora of North America species comparison

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Diplacus nanus

Diplacus rutilus

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

Santa Susana bush monkeyflower
Habit Herbs, annual. Subshrubs.
Stems

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

erect, 300–1000(–2000) mm, glandular-puberulent and short-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;

petiole absent;

blade elliptic to lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, or elliptic-oblanceolate, 25–65(–80) × 4–15(–25) mm, margins entire or serrate, revolute, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surfaces densely hairy, hairs branched, adaxial glabrescent.
Pedicels

1–3 mm in fruit.

5–16 mm in fruit.
Flowers

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

2 per node, chasmogamous.
Styles

glandular-puberulent or glandular-pubescent.

minutely glandular.
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.

red to orange-red, throat whitish at least on floor, palate ridges orange or white with orange crest, tube-throat 34–45 mm, limb (25–)28–40 mm diam., bilabiate, lobes oblong, apex of adaxial 2 each shallowly, asymmetrically incised.
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.

not inflated in fruit, 22–32 mm, glandular-puberulent and short glandular-villous to hirsute-villous, tube slightly dilated distally, lobes unequal, apex acute, ribs green, intercostal areas light green.
Capsules

8–12 mm.

18–28 mm.
Anthers

included or exserted, ciliate.

included, glabrous.
Stigmas

exserted, lobes equal.

included, lobes equal.
2n

= 16.

Diplacus nanus

Diplacus rutilus
Phenology Flowering (Apr–)May–Jul. Flowering Mar–Jun.
Habitat Openings in sagebrush, disturbed slopes, granite outcrops. Chaparral.
Elevation (300–)1100–2300(–2900) m. [(1000–)3600–7500(–9500) ft.] 400–600 m. [1300–2000 ft.]
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[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.)

H. E. McMinn (1951), M. C. Tulig and G. L Nesom (2012), and Nesom (2013c) treated Diplacus rutilus at specific rank, but P. A. Munz and D. D. Keck (1973) followed the original assessment of A. L. Grant (1924) in treating it as a variety of the light orange- to pale yellow-orange-flowered D. longiflorus, while R. M. Beeks (1962) and D. M. Thompson (2005) regarded this taxon as only a variant of D. longiflorus, without formal rank. It is maintained here as a distinct, red-flowered species localized in Los Angeles County, California. Diplacus rutilus occurs in pockets in a strip from Whittier and Pomona through North Pasadena westward to near the Ventura County line (the Santa Susana area being the type locality), a distance of almost 60 miles.

Very few of these red-flowered collections can be separated in any feature except corolla color from typical Diplacus longiflorus. Red corollas have not been observed in D. longiflorus outside of Los Angeles County, and D. rutilus might be interpreted as reflecting local introgression in this area from D. puniceus, but the distinctive and tightly coherent geographical distribution of these red-flowered plants and their apparent absence elsewhere in the area where D. ×australis occurs suggest that the origin of D. rutilus is different from that of the highly variable D. ×australis.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 440. FNA vol. 17, p. 451.
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. ovatus, D. parryi, D. parviflorus, D. pictus, D. pulchellus, D. puniceus, D. pygmaeus, D. rattanii, D. rupicola, D. thompsonii, D. torreyi, D. traskiae, D. tricolor, D. vandenbergensis, D. viscidus
Synonyms Mimulus nanus, M. tolmiei Mimulus longiflorus var. rutilus, D. longiflorus var. rutilus
Name authority (Hooker & Arnott) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 29. (2012) (A. L. Grant) McMinn: Madroño 11: 83. (1951)
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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