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primrose monkey-flower

Colorado monkeyflower

Habit Perennials, rhizomatous or stoloniferous, mat-forming, rhizomes or stolons flagelliform. Perennials, rhizomatous, colonial, rhizomes forming a mass, branching, filiform.
Stems

erect to ascending, usually simple, 2–10(–20) cm, villous, internodes shortened.

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

Leaves

all basal or near basal, often rosulate;

petiole 0 mm;

blade palmately 3-veined, oblanceolate to elliptic-obovate, 7–40 × 4–12 mm, base cuneate to attenuate, margins entire, distally denticulate to dentate, or sharply serrate-dentate, apex acute to obtuse, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial glabrous or glabrate to sparsely to densely long-villous, 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

herkogamous, 1.

herkogamous, 1–3, from distal nodes.

Styles

glabrous.

sparsely hirtellous.

Corollas

yellow to orange-yellow, usually brown-spotted abaxially, base of each abaxial lobe usually with a larger reddish brown spot, bilaterally or nearly radially symmetric, weakly bilabiate or nearly regular, densely hirsute on abaxial side of opening;

tube-throat narrowly campanulate, 15–20 mm, exserted beyond calyx margin;

lobes broadly obovate-oblong, apex rounded- or truncate-notched, throat open, palate densely villous, abaxial ridges prominent.

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

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

Fruiting pedicels

30–110(–130) mm, glabrous or sparsely stipitate-glandular near base.

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

Fruiting calyces

tubular-campanulate, weakly or not inflated, 6–8 mm, glabrous.

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, 6–7 mm.

included, 5–8 mm.

Anthers

slightly exserted, margins ciliate, glabrous.

included, glabrous.

2n

= 34.

Erythranthe primuloides

Erythranthe minor

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug. Flowering Jul–Aug(–Sep).
Habitat Wet meadows, seeps, streamsides. Stream and lake edges, intermittent subalpine water courses, roadside ditches, subalpine to alpine.
Elevation 600–3400 m. (2000–11200 ft.) 3000–3700 m. (9800–12100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
CO; NM
Discussion

Flowers in Erythranthe primuloides and E. linearifolia characteristically appear to be scapose, but the scapes are pedicels arising from axils of greatly foreshortened stems. Occasionally in both species the internodes may lengthen somewhat, and the leaves are not so densely clustered at the base of the stems.

In northern Klamath, western Deschutes, and eastern Douglas counties, Oregon, an area within the range of typical populations, Erythranthe primuloides has distinctively large corollas (limbs 10–15 mm wide). Apparent clones of large-flowered and smaller-flowered plants sometimes grow in close proximity or even intermixed, appearing as two different entities.

(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. 389. 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. 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. 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 primuloides, M. nevadensis, M. pilosellus, M. primuloides var. minimus, M. primuloides var. pilosellus Mimulus minor, M. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. alpinus, M. langsdorffii var. minor
Name authority (Bentham) G. L. Nesom & N. S. Fraga: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 35. (2012) (A. Nelson) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 44. (2012)
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