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shield-bract monkeyflower

Willis' monkeyflower

Habit Annuals, slender-taprooted or fibrous-rooted, rarely with runners from basal nodes. Perennials, rhizomatous, rarely rooting at proximal nodes, usually forming large colonies, rhizomes white, usually highly branching.
Stems

erect, simple or branched, terete, sometimes 4-angled distally, (5–)30–60(–80) cm, glabrous, glaucous.

usually sprawling-decumbent, branched, sometimes simple, 7–45 cm, nodes (2–)4–15+, densely glandular-villous, hairs 1–2 mm, glandular, internodes evident.

Leaves

basal and cauline;

petiole: basal and proximal cauline as long as or much longer than blade, slender, sometimes pubescent or villous, distals absent;

blade palmately 3–5-veined, (proximal) ovate to ovate-elliptic or orbicular-ovate, sometimes subcordate, 10–50 mm, midcauline to distal orbicular, 5–45 mm wide, distinctly connate-perfoliate, disclike distally, base rounded to subcordate, margins: proximals denticulate to dentate or coarsely, irregularly toothed, sometimes lobed at base, distals nearly entire or toothed, teeth scattered, small, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous, glaucous.

usually cauline, basal not persistent, distinctly separated;

petiole 0 mm, sometimes 1–2 mm at proximal nodes;

blade bicolored, purplish abaxially, pinnately veined, ovate to elliptic-ovate, midcauline 10–35 × 6–18 mm, base rounded to subcordate, margins coarsely serrate-dentate to denticulate or subentire, apex short-attenuate to acute, obtuse, or rounded, surfaces densely glandular-villous, hairs 1–2 mm, gland-tipped.

Flowers

herkogamous, 1–16, from distal nodes, sometimes from nearly all, chasmogamous.

herkogamous, (4–)8–30+, from medial to distal nodes, sometimes from all nodes.

Styles

minutely hirtellous-puberulent.

glabrous.

Corollas

yellow, sometimes with a median splotch, abaxial limb densely dark yellow, others much lighter, throat floor and tube red-dotted, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate;

tube-throat funnelform, 12–23 mm, exserted 4–8 mm beyond calyx margin;

limb expanded 14–36 mm.

yellow, throat, tube, and proximal portion of abaxial 3 lobes with fine, red to brownish lines, weakly bilaterally or nearly radially symmetric, weakly bilabiate or nearly regular;

tube-throat narrowly funnelform, 12–15 mm, exserted beyond calyx margin;

limb 9–12 mm wide (pressed), lobes oblong-obovate, apex rounded to notched.

Fruiting pedicels

10–50 mm, glabrous, glaucous.

4–20(–25) mm, densely glandular-villous, hairs 1–2 mm, gland-tipped.

Fruiting calyces

broadly campanulate, inflated, sagittally compressed, 7–16 mm, glabrous, glaucous, throat closing.

ridge- to wing-angled, campanulate to cylindric-campanulate, weakly inflated, 7–10 mm, densely glandular-villous, lobes erect to slightly spreading, unequal, triangular to linear-lanceolate, 2–4 mm, apex acuminate-apiculate.

Capsules

included, 5–11 mm.

included, 4–5 mm.

Anthers

included, glabrous.

included, glabrous or finely hirtellous to scabrous.

2n

= 28.

Erythranthe glaucescens

Erythranthe willisii

Phenology Flowering Mar–May(–Jun). Flowering May–Sep.
Habitat Seepage areas, wet rocks, moist cliffs, pool edges, gravelly stream banks, serpentine outcrops, roadsides and roadcuts, low pastures, riparian woodlands, blue oak woodlands, chaparral, grasslands. Seepage, drainage margins, moist soils, talus, cracks and crevices, soils deprived from serpentine.
Elevation 80–900(–1100) m. (300–3000(–3600) ft.) (500–)700–900 m. ((1600–)2300–3000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA
Discussion

Plants from one locality in Butte County are unusual in producing filiform, small-leaved runners from basal cauline nodes. Erythranthe glaucescens is known only from Butte and Tehama counties.

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

Erythranthe willisii is narrowly endemic over serpentine along the North Fork Feather River (including the North Branch) in Plumas County. In the original description, its range was said to include serpentine localities in closely adjacent areas of east-central Butte, Plumas, and northwestern Yuba counties, but subsequent field work has shown that these peripheral populations are E. moschata, and that E. willisii occurs only in the bottom of the Serpentine Canyon area. The most consistent and recognizable features of E. willisii are the long, sprawling stems often spread over a large area, sometimes reaching at least 45 cm and often with many crowded nodes, sessile or subsessile leaves with rounded to subcordate bases, and short pedicels, characteristically no longer than the subtending leaves (except sometimes the distal ones where subtending leaves are distinctly reduced in size). It is possible that stem growth in E. willisii is indeterminate versus determinate in E. moschata. Sessile to subsessile leaves occur in E. moschata, especially in the California Sierra Nevada, but petiole length and leaf base shape are variable within populations; lack of petioles and a rounded/subcordate base are fixed characters in E. willisii (as they are also in E. ptilota). Although large colonies of E. moschata are sometimes encountered, the individual plants tend to be erect (in California) and with few distal flowers. In the field, the dense vestiture of E. willisii is a prominent feature, but this is harder to distinguish in pressed specimens, and there is a strong tendency for purple abaxial leaf coloration in E. willisii. Phenology and flower morphology of E. willisii and E. moschata appear to be similar, but E. moschata in north-central California does not occur at as low elevations as E. willisii.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 417. FNA vol. 17, p. 401.
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. 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. 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. 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
Synonyms Mimulus glaucescens, M. guttatus var. glaucescens
Name authority (Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 43. (2012) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2017-17: 7, figs. 14–22. (2017)
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