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 tricolor

Diplacus pictus

tricolor monkeyflower

calico monkeyflower
Habit Herbs, annual, acaulescent or caulescent. Herbs, annual.
Stems

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

erect to ascending, 20–380 mm, 4-sided, glandular-pubescent.
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.

basal and cauline, relatively even-sized;

petiole absent;

blade elliptic to elliptic-ovate or obovate, 7–45(–57) × 3–20(–32) mm, margins crenate, plane, apex obtuse to rounded, surfaces glandular-pubescent.
Pedicels

1–3(–5) mm in fruit.

1.5–6(–7) mm in fruit.
Flowers

1 per node, chasmogamous.

2 per node, or 1 or 2 per node on 1 plant, chasmogamous, sometimes cleistogamous.
Styles

usually glandular-puberulent.

glandular-puberulent.
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.

salverform-rotate, throat dark purplish brown without internal or external markings, lobes white with bold, purplish brown veins, palate ridges absent, tube-throat 6.5–18 mm, limb 4–16 mm diam., not bilabiate.
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.

asymmetrically attached to pedicel, not inflated in fruit, 6–18 mm, densely glandular-pubescent, lobes unequal, adaxial longest, apex obtuse, ribs green, intercostal areas whitish.
Capsules

(2–)3–8(–10) mm, indehiscent.

(5.5–)7–17 mm.
Anthers

included, with apical tufts of short, eglandular hairs.

included, glabrous.
Stigmas

nearly exserted, lobes subequal.

included, lobes unequal, abaxial 6–8 times adaxial.
2n

= 18.

= 16.

Diplacus tricolor

Diplacus pictus
Phenology Flowering Mar–Jul(–Aug). Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Vernally flooded depressions in grasslands, low spots and ditches in and around agricultural fields. Rocky granitic slopes, granite rocks and outcrops, sandy granitic soils, blue oak, blue oak-grey pine, Douglas oak, Douglas oak-canyon live oak, and gray pine-Douglas oak woodlands, steep canyon slopes with box elder.
Elevation 50–1500 m. (200–4900 ft.) 100–1300 m. (300–4300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch 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 pictus is known from Kern and Tulare counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills and Tehachapi Mountains.

Diplacus pictus and D. mohavensis have been treated together as Mimulus sect. Mimulastrum; molecular data (P. M. Beardsley et al. 2004) indicate that the two species are independently derived and that the similarities in corolla morphology are convergent. Diplacus pictus produces cleistogamous flowers in drought conditions.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 447. FNA vol. 17, p. 444.
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. parviflorus, 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 Eunanus pictus, Mimulus pictus
Name authority (Hartweg ex Lindley) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 30. (2012) (Curran ex Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 30. (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 Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora

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