The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

calyx-nose monkeyflower, erythranthe nasuta, large-nose monkey-flower, little yellow monkey-flower, snouted monkey-flower

California blushing monkeyflower

Habit Annuals, fibrous-rooted or slender-taprooted. Perennials, rhizomatous.
Stems

erect to ascending-erect or decumbent, simple or branched from proximal nodes, 4-angled, sometimes shallowly 4-winged, thin-wiry, or fistulose, 2–35(–100) cm, glabrous except for a consistently small, villous-glandular area just above nodes, sometimes hirtellous distally.

erect, usually simple, 25–90 cm, stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous.

Leaves

basal and cauline or basal not persistent;

petiole: proximals to medials 3–35 mm, base narrowly flanged, distals 0 mm;

blade ± red tinged abaxially or purple-spotted, palmately 3–5-veined, elliptic-ovate to broadly ovate, suborbicular, or depressed-ovate, (5–)10–49(–80) × (3–)10–25(–60) mm, as long as wide or wider than long, proximals largest and persistent, base cuneate to truncate or subcordate, margins irregularly dentate to dentate-serrate or nearly lacerate-dentate, commonly doubly toothed, main teeth 4–9 per side, sometimes sublacerate to sublyrate basally, apex acute to obtuse, surfaces glabrous, sometimes hirtellous, hairs dull, terete, sharp-pointed, eglandular.

cauline;

petiole 0 mm;

blade palmately veined, elliptic to ovate, ovate-lanceolate, or lanceolate, (20–)30–90 × 5–25(–35) mm, base rounded to cuneate, subclasping, margins denticulate, subentire, or entire, apex acute, surfaces stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous.

Flowers

plesiogamous, (1 or)2–12(–20), from distal nodes, sometimes from medial to distal, chasmogamous or cleistogamous.

herkogamous, 2–8, axillary at leafy medial to distal nodes.

Styles

minutely scabrous or glabrous.

glabrous.

Corollas

yellow, throat usually red-spotted, abaxial limb base usually with a red splotch, bilaterally symmetric, weakly bilabiate;

tube-throat broadly cylindric, (5–)8–12 mm, exserted (0–)1–2 mm beyond calyx margin;

limb expanded 6–12 mm.

light pink, darker pink stripes down middle of each lobe, abaxial 3 lobes with a white basal patch, palate ridges yellow, bilaterally symmetric, strongly bilabiate;

tube-throat funnelform, 20–30 mm, exserted beyond calyx margins;

lobe apex usually truncate, shallowly retuse, throat open.

Fruiting pedicels

(3–)7–20(–40) mm, longer than subtending leaves, glabrate, sometimes glandular-villous adaxially at axils.

45–90 mm.

Fruiting calyces

nodding 30–180º, usually purple-tinged or -spotted, ovoid-campanulate, inflated, sagittally compressed, (5–)10–15(–19) mm, glabrous or minutely hirtellous to appressed-hirtellous, minutely short-ciliate at sinuses, throat closing, adaxial lobe usually longer than abaxial, slightlty falcate.

cylindric-campanulate, not inflated, 15–22 mm, stipitate-glandular to glandular-villous, tube 14–19 × 6–8 mm, lobes subequal to distinctly unequal, ovate, apex linear-caudate.

Capsules

included, (4–)5–9(–10) mm.

included, 7–13 mm.

Anthers

included, glabrous.

included, white-villous, thecae spreading.

2n

= 26, 28, 56.

= 16.

Erythranthe nasuta

Erythranthe erubescens

Phenology Flowering (Mar–)Apr–Jun(–Jul). Flowering Jul–Aug.
Habitat Cliff faces, ledges, crevices, and bases, wet rocks in rivers, streamsides, sand bars, mossy seeps, wet clay banks, moist fields, sandy soils, depressions over granite, roadsides. Springs and seeps, meadows, cliffs, steep rocky slopes, ridges.
Elevation (0–)600–2300(–3200) m. ((0–)2000–7500(–10500) ft.) (1400–)1800–3000(–3500) m. ((4600–)5900–9800(–11500) ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; BC; Mexico (Baja California, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CA; NV
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Erythranthe nasuta is characterized by its annual duration (fibrous-rooted), four-angled stems, broadly ovate leaves commonly with irregularly toothed margins, calyces with longish, protruding adaxial lobes, and short corollas (all autogamous, chasmogamous or cleistogamous). Flowers may vary significantly in size, even on a single plant. Plants commonly produce tiny cleistogamous flowers on branches (usually at the base of the plant) separate from those with larger flowers. At least the distal and bracteal leaves consistently have hirtellous to hirsutulous adaxial surfaces, even in the smallest of plants. Glandular vestiture is produced only in the axils. Some plants, apparently at the upper limits of populational variability, produce thick-fistulose stems to 100 cm, large leaves (to 80 × 60 mm), and large fruiting calyces (16–19 mm).

Plants described as Mimulus sookensis (B. G. Benedict 1993; Benedict et al. 2012) are tetraploid and have been hypothesized to have arisen as alloploids between Erythranthe nasuta and E. microphylla in two or more independent events. In morphology, however, they are indistinguishable from E. nasuta and are treated here within it. In contrast, experimental hybrids and naturally occurring nasuta-microphylla hybrids apparently of contemporary origin are intermediate in morphology (see review by G. L. Nesom 2013e). The tetraploid occurs from northern California to southwestern British Columbia (A. L. Sweigart et al. 2008; Benedict et al. 2012).

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

Erythranthe erubescens was long identified as E. lewisii but is distinct in its light pink corollas (versus mostly magenta-rose to purplish in E. lewisii), more broadly cylindric calyx tube [14–19 × 6–8 mm versus 12–15(–17) × 9–12 mm], and its geographic range in the Sierra Nevada of California (versus widespread from southern Alaska south to northwestern California, northern Utah, eastern Nevada, and northern Colorado in E. lewisii). The two are genetically isolated and phylogenetically distinct (see summary of evidence in G. L. Nesom 2014b).

In California, Erythranthe erubescens ranges from Modoc, Plumas, and Tehama counties south to Fresno County; in Nevada, it is known only from Washoe County and Carson City.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 418. FNA vol. 17, p. 393.
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. lewisii, E. linearifolia, E. marmorata, E. michiganensis, E. microphylla, E. minor, E. montioides, E. moschata, 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. 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 nasuta, M. bakeri, M. cuspidatus, M. erosus, M. guttatus var. gracilis, M. guttatus var. nasutus, M. langsdorffii var. nasutus, M. luteus var. gracilis, M. puncticalyx, M. sookensis, M. subreniformis
Name authority (Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 44. (2012) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2014-31: 12, figs. 11–13. (2014)
Web links