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

Erythranthe breviflora

Erythranthe arenaria

short-flower monkey-flower

sand-loving monkeyflower
Habit Annuals, shallowly fibrous-rooted. Annuals, fibrous-rooted or filiform-taprooted.
Stems

ascending, geniculate at nodes, branched at proximal and medial nodes, 4–15 cm, minutely stipitate-glandular, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm, gland-tipped, sometimes minutely hirtellous, hairs sharp-pointed, eglandular.

erect to ascending, straight or geniculate at nodes, simple or branched, 5–20 cm, villous-glandular, hairs 0.2–0.8 mm, gland-tipped.
Leaves

usually cauline, basal usually deciduous by flowering;

petiole 1–3 mm;

blade palmately 3-veined, narrowly ovate or narrowly lanceolate to elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, largest 5–15 × 2–6 mm, relatively even-sized, or slightly reduced distally, base attenuate, margins entire, mucronulate, or denticulate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces minutely stipitate-glandular, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm, gland-tipped, sometimes minutely hirtellous, hairs sharp-pointed, eglandular.

basal and cauline;

petiole 0 mm or proximals 1–3(–5) mm;

blade 1-veined or palmately 3-veined, elliptic to narrowly elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or ovate-lanceolate, 5–12(–17) × 3–7 mm, base rounded to cuneate-attenuate, margins entire or sparsely dentate to serrate, apex acuminate to acute or obtuse, surfaces villous-glandular, hairs 0.2–0.8 mm, gland-tipped.
Flowers

plesiogamous, 10–20, from medial to distal nodes.

herkogamous, 1–22, from proximal to distal nodes.
Styles

glabrous.

glabrous.
Corollas

yellow, red-spotted or striped, bilaterally symmetric, weakly bilabiate;

tube-throat cylindric to narrowly funnelform, 3.5–5 mm, not exserted beyond calyx margin;

limb barely widened, lobes broadly obovate, apex rounded.

yellow, abaxial limb red-dotted, bilaterally symmetric, weakly bilabiate;

tube-throat funnelform, 9–12(–14) mm, exserted beyond calyx margin;

lobes broadly obovate, apex rounded.
Fruiting pedicels

straight, 5–11 mm, minutely stipitate-glandular, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm, gland-tipped, sometimes minutely hirtellous, hairs sharp-pointed, eglandular.

divergent-arcuate, 10–23 mm, villous-glandular, hairs 0.2–0.8 mm, gland-tipped.
Fruiting calyces

winged, plicate-angled, campanulate becoming ovoid-ellipsoid to campanulate, distinctly inflated, 5–6 mm, margins distinctly toothed or lobed, sparsely, minutely hirtellous, eglandular, sometimes sparsely sessile-glandular, lobes pronounced, erect.

usually red-dotted, narrowly campanulate, not or weakly inflated, 5–7(–9) mm, margins distinctly toothed or lobed, villous-glandular, ribs angled, lobes pronounced, erect.
Capsules

included, 4–6 mm.

included, 4–7 mm.
Anthers

included, glabrous.

included, glabrous.
2n

= 32.

Erythranthe breviflora

Erythranthe arenaria
Phenology Flowering May–Jul. Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Stream and lake sides, gravel bars, springs, moist slopes, damp swales between dunes, along trails. Sandy flats, bars, gullies, washes, trails, roadcuts, seasonal creek beds and drainages, rocky slopes, seepy loam, ditches, lake edges, meadows, openings in pine-fir and pine-oak woodlands.
Elevation 700–2300 m. (2300–7500 ft.) (100–)500–2600(–2800) m. ((300–)1600–8500(–9200) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Erythranthe arenaria is known from a cluster of six counties of the central Sierra Nevada: Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Tulare, and Tuolumne.

Most plants of Erythranthe arenaria have relatively even-sized cauline leaves, all sessile to proximally subsessile. Plants in the Yosemite area with persistent basal leaves that are short-petiolate, ovate with a cuneate base, and relatively larger than the more distal cauline ones, and possibly related to E. arenaria, have been named M. floribundus var. subulatus. These might be construed as showing the influence of E. geniculata, but that species occurs only at the lower range of elevation of E. arenaria, while plants referable to Mimulus floribundus var. subulatus occur at least to 2300 m and also have the erect habit characteristic of E. arenaria. These variants should be investigated, especially in the Yosemite area where they appear to be relatively common, with the possibility that they indeed represent a distinct entity.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 399. FNA vol. 17, p. 403.
Parent taxa Phrymaceae > Erythranthe Phrymaceae > Erythranthe
Sibling taxa
E. acutidens, E. alsinoides, E. ampliata, E. androsacea, E. arenaria, E. arenicola, E. arvensis, E. barbata, E. bicolor, E. brachystylis, E. breweri, E. caespitosa, E. calcicola, E. calciphila, E. cardinalis, E. carsonensis, E. charlestonensis, E. chinatiensis, E. cinnabarina, E. corallina, E. cordata, E. decora, E. dentata, E. diffusa, E. discolor, E. eastwoodiae, E. erubescens, E. exigua, E. filicaulis, E. filicifolia, E. floribunda, E. gemmipara, E. geniculata, E. geyeri, E. glaucescens, E. gracilipes, E. grandis, E. grayi, E. guttata, E. hallii, E. hardhamiae, E. hymenophylla, E. inamoena, E. inconspicua, E. inflatula, E. jungermannioides, E. laciniata, E. latidens, E. lewisii, E. linearifolia, E. marmorata, E. michiganensis, E. microphylla, E. minor, E. montioides, E. moschata, E. nasuta, E. norrisii, E. nudata, E. palmeri, E. pardalis, E. parishii, E. parvula, E. patula, E. percaulis, E. primuloides, E. ptilota, E. pulsiferae, E. purpurea, E. regni, E. rhodopetra, E. rubella, E. scouleri, E. shevockii, E. sierrae, E. suksdorfii, E. taylorii, E. thermalis, E. tilingii, E. trinitiensis, E. unimaculata, E. utahensis, E. verbenacea, E. washingtonensis, E. willisii
E. acutidens, E. alsinoides, E. ampliata, E. androsacea, E. arenicola, E. arvensis, E. barbata, E. bicolor, E. brachystylis, E. breviflora, E. breweri, E. caespitosa, E. calcicola, E. calciphila, E. cardinalis, E. carsonensis, E. charlestonensis, E. chinatiensis, E. cinnabarina, E. corallina, E. cordata, E. decora, E. dentata, E. diffusa, E. discolor, E. eastwoodiae, E. erubescens, E. exigua, E. filicaulis, E. filicifolia, E. floribunda, E. gemmipara, E. geniculata, E. geyeri, E. glaucescens, E. gracilipes, E. grandis, E. grayi, E. guttata, E. hallii, E. hardhamiae, E. hymenophylla, E. inamoena, E. inconspicua, E. inflatula, E. jungermannioides, E. laciniata, E. latidens, E. lewisii, E. linearifolia, E. marmorata, E. michiganensis, E. microphylla, E. minor, E. montioides, E. moschata, E. nasuta, E. norrisii, E. nudata, E. palmeri, E. pardalis, E. parishii, E. parvula, E. patula, E. percaulis, E. primuloides, E. ptilota, E. pulsiferae, E. purpurea, E. regni, E. rhodopetra, E. rubella, E. scouleri, E. shevockii, E. sierrae, E. suksdorfii, E. taylorii, E. thermalis, E. tilingii, E. trinitiensis, E. unimaculata, E. utahensis, E. verbenacea, E. washingtonensis, E. willisii
Synonyms Mimulus breviflorus Mimulus arenarius, M. floribundus var. subulatus, M. multiflorus, M. subulatus, M. trisulcatus
Name authority (Piper) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 38. (2012) (A. L. Grant) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 38. (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, UW Burke Herbarium

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