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short-flower monkey-flower

Colorado monkeyflower

Habit Annuals, shallowly fibrous-rooted. Perennials, rhizomatous, colonial, rhizomes forming a mass, branching, filiform.
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 erect-ascending, branched, 5–20 cm, densely minutely hirtellous and eglandular or with a mixture of hirtellous and gland-tipped hairs.

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 mm;

blade palmately 3-veined, broadly ovate to elliptic-ovate or lanceolate, 8–25 × 5–15 mm, base cuneate to truncate, margins shallowly dentate to denticulate, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous.

Flowers

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

herkogamous, 1–3, from distal nodes.

Styles

glabrous.

sparsely hirtellous.

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, not red-dotted, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate;

tube-throat tubular-funnelform, 9–11 mm, exserted 0–1(–2) mm beyond calyx margin.

Fruiting pedicels

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

10–20 mm, densely minutely hirtellous and eglandular or with a mixture of hirtellous and gland-tipped hairs.

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.

nodding 80–100º, not purple-dotted, cylindric-campanulate, inflated, sagittally compressed, 10–13 mm, densely minutely hirtellous and eglandular or with a mixture of hirtellous and gland-tipped hairs, throat closing.

Capsules

included, 4–6 mm.

included, 5–8 mm.

Anthers

included, glabrous.

included, glabrous.

Erythranthe breviflora

Erythranthe minor

Phenology Flowering May–Jul. Flowering Jul–Aug(–Sep).
Habitat Stream and lake sides, gravel bars, springs, moist slopes, damp swales between dunes, along trails. Stream and lake edges, intermittent subalpine water courses, roadside ditches, subalpine to alpine.
Elevation 700–2300 m. (2300–7500 ft.) 3000–3700 m. (9800–12100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CO; NM
Discussion

The corollas of Erythranthe minor are shorter than those of typical E. tilingii, and the two species are allopatric. Corollas of E. tilingii rarely may be equally as short as those of E. minor but are produced in scattered localities on plants that are depauperate in other ways. The range of E. minor is primarily in Colorado apparently extending southward into the Wheeler Peak area of Taos County, New Mexico. Attribution of its range into the La Sal Mountains of east-central Utah has been based on misidentifications of E. guttata; the distinction between E. guttata and E. minor in Colorado also needs clarification.

Mimulus luteus Linnaeus var. alpinus A. Gray (1863, the type from Colorado) is an illegitimate name for Erythranthe minor, preceded by M. luteus var. alpinus Lindley (1827).

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 399. FNA vol. 17, p. 409.
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. arenaria, 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. 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 minor, M. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. minor
Name authority (Piper) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 38. (2012) (A. Nelson) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 44. (2012)
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