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tricolor monkeyflower

island bush monkeyflower

Habit Herbs, annual, acaulescent or caulescent. Subshrubs or shrubs.
Stems

erect or ascending, 10–140(–170) mm, densely glandular-puberulent.

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

Leaves

basal densely clustered;

petiole absent;

blade narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, (5–)8–45(–60) × (1–)3–12(–20) mm, margins entire, sometimes toothed, plane, not ciliate, apex obtuse, surfaces glandular-puberulent.

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(–5) mm in fruit.

6–15 mm in fruit.

Flowers

1 per node, chasmogamous.

2 per node, chasmogamous.

Styles

usually glandular-puberulent.

minutely glandular.

Corollas

tricolored, limb and throat magenta to purple, each lobe with a discrete, dark maroon-purple blotch at base, all 3 blotches of abaxial lip round and not usually extending into throat, palate ridges yellow, flanked with white, sometimes purple-spotted, tube-throat (13–)15–50 mm, limb 7–21 mm diam., bilabiate, lobes equal.

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

slightly asymmetrically attached to pedicel, not inflated in fruit, (6–)11–23 mm, densely glandular-puberulent, lobes subequal, apex obtuse, ribs often purplish proximally, 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

(2–)3–8(–10) mm, indehiscent.

14–21 mm.

Anthers

included, with apical tufts of short, eglandular hairs.

exserted, glabrous.

Stigmas

nearly exserted, lobes subequal.

exserted, lobes equal.

2n

= 18.

= 20.

Diplacus tricolor

Diplacus parviflorus

Phenology Flowering Mar–Jul(–Aug). Flowering Mar–Aug.
Habitat Vernally flooded depressions in grasslands, low spots and ditches in and around agricultural fields. Hillsides, canyons, rocky slopes and walls, bluffs, sea cliffs.
Elevation 50–1500 m. (200–4900 ft.) 10–400 m. (0–1300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Diplacus tricolor occurs in northwestern and south-central Oregon and from there across a disjunction to central California as far as Kern County.

(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. 447. 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. 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. 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 tricolor Mimulus aurantiacus var. parviflorus, M. flemingii
Name authority (Hartweg ex Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 30. (2012) Greene: Pittonia 1: 36. (1887)
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