Flora of North America species comparison

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Erythranthe lewisii

Erythranthe minor

great purple monkey-flower, great purple or Lewis' monkeyflower, Lewis' monkey flower, pink monkey-flower, purple monkey-flower

Colorado monkeyflower
Habit Perennials, rhizomatous. Perennials, rhizomatous, colonial, rhizomes forming a mass, branching, filiform.
Stems

erect, usually simple, (15–)25–60(–75) cm, stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous.

erect to erect-ascending, branched, 5–20 cm, densely minutely hirtellous and eglandular or with a mixture of hirtellous and gland-tipped hairs.
Leaves

cauline;

petiole 0 mm;

blade palmately veined, elliptic to ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or broadly oblanceolate, (10–)25–75(–90) × 5–35 mm, base rounded to cuneate, subclasping, margins denticulate, subentire, or entire, apex acute, surfaces stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous.

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

herkogamous, 2–6(–10), axillary at leafy medial to distal nodes.

herkogamous, 1–3, from distal nodes.
Styles

glabrous.

sparsely hirtellous.
Corollas

purple, rarely crimson, pale violet, white, pinkish white, yellowish white, or lavender, sometimes lined with red dots, bilaterally symmetric, strongly bilabiate;

tube-throat funnelform, 22–28 mm, exserted beyond calyx margins;

lobe apex usually truncate to shallowly convex, shallowly retuse, throat open.

yellow, not red-dotted, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate;

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

(25–)35–70 mm, stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous.

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

broadly cylindric-campanulate, not inflated, 15–22 mm, stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous, tube 12–15(–17) × 9–12 mm.

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, 6–11 mm.

included, 5–8 mm.
Anthers

included, white-villous, thecae spreading.

included, glabrous.
2n

= 16.

Erythranthe lewisii

Erythranthe minor
Phenology Flowering Jun–Sep. Flowering Jul–Aug(–Sep).
Habitat Stream banks, springs, wet meadows, subalpine slopes, talus, crevices, ditches. Stream and lake edges, intermittent subalpine water courses, roadside ditches, subalpine to alpine.
Elevation 600–2900(–3200) m. (2000–9500(–10500) ft.) 3000–3700 m. (9800–12100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CO; NM
Discussion

Erythranthe lewisii in California occurs in Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties. California records from Shasta County and south previously identified as E. lewisii are identified here as E. erubescens. The record for E. lewisii in Alaska is documented by this collection: Hyder [noted on handwritten label as "New to Alaska, Standley"], damp land, 27 June 1924, K. Whited 1291 (MO).

Apparent exceptions to the characteristic flower color are these: white to lavender in Nevada (Clark County, Charleston Mountains, Train 2068, MO); pinkish white in Washington (Skamania and Yakima counties, Mt. Paddo, Suksdorf 5779, MO); white or tinged with yellow, in Wyoming (Teton County, as described by Nelson in the protologue of Mimulus lewisii var. tetonensis).

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

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. 392. 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. 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. 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 lewisii, M. lewisii var. tetonensis Mimulus minor, M. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. minor
Name authority (Pursh) G. L. Nesom & N. S. Fraga: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 36. (2012) (A. Nelson) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 44. (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).



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