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primrose monkey-flower

lop-seed family, monkeyflower family

Habit Perennials, rhizomatous or stoloniferous, mat-forming, rhizomes or stolons flagelliform. Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs, annual or perennial, aquatic or terrestrial, sometimes fleshy, autotrophic.
Stems

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

erect or ascending to prostrate, 4-angled, sometimes winged.

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.

deciduous or persistent, basal and cauline or all cauline, rarely subrosulate or rosulate (Erythranthe), opposite, or alternate distally, simple;

stipules absent;

petiole present or absent;

blade fleshy, semi-fleshy, or not, not leathery, margins entire or toothed.

Inflorescences

terminal and axillary racemes or flowers solitary (Glossostigma, some Erythranthe, some annual plants);

flowers erect to nodding or strongly reflexed and appressed to inflorescence axis (Phryma).

Flowers

herkogamous, 1.

bisexual, perianth and androecium hypogynous;

sepals (3 or)4 or 5, proximally connate, calyx radially or bilaterally symmetric;

petals 3–5, proximally connate, corolla bilaterally symmetric, rarely nearly radially in reduced forms, strongly to weakly bilabiate, rarely nearly regular, salverform to tubular-funnelform, funnelform, campanulate, or compressed;

stamens (2–)4, adnate to corolla, didynamous [both pairs of equal length in autogamous forms], staminode 0;

pistil 1, 2-carpellate, ovary superior, (1 or)2-locular, placentation axile, basal (Phryma), or parietal (Diplacus, Mimetanthe);

ovules anatropous or orthotropous (Phryma), unitegmic, tenuinucellate;

style 1;

stigma 1, 2-lobed.

Styles

glabrous.

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.

Fruiting pedicels

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

Fruiting calyces

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

Fruits

capsules, dehiscence loculicidal [septicidal or irregular], or achenes [berry].

Capsules

included, 6–7 mm.

Seeds

1–2000, yellowish brown or brown, narrowly ellipsoid, slightly flattened bilaterally;

embryo straight, endosperm sparse.

Anthers

slightly exserted, margins ciliate, glabrous.

2n

= 34.

Erythranthe primuloides

Phrymaceae

Phenology Flowering Jun–Aug.
Habitat Wet meadows, seeps, streamsides.
Elevation 600–3400 m. (2000–11200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA
[WildflowerSearch map]
North America; Mexico; Central America; w South America (primarily Andean); s Asia (India); se Asia; e Africa; Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar); Pacific Islands (New Zealand); Australia [Introduced in Europe, s Africa]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Genera 13, species ca. 200 (6 genera, 139 species in the flora).

Over one half of the species in Phrymaceae are members of Diplacus and Erythranthe and together include over 160 species; all other genera each have seven or fewer species.

Until recently, Phrymaceae consisted only of Phryma leptostachya, a taxonomically isolated species of eastern North America and eastern Asia. Molecular studies have established a relationship not with the Verbenaceae, as was earlier postulated (see H. L. Whipple 1972; R. Venkata Ramana et al. 2000), but rather with Mimulus and other genera, suggesting that Phrymaceae should be enlarged. The sequence of genera in Phrymaceae here follows the phylogeny proposed by P. M. Beardsley and R. G. Olmstead (2002).

One of the major lineages of Phrymaceae is primarily a Southern Hemisphere group ranging from Australia and New Zealand to southeastern and south Asia (India), Madagascar, and South Africa. Mimulus in the narrow sense, including the two endemic North American species, is part of this group, which includes 24 species in seven genera. The largest major lineage includes 158 species in five genera from North America, South America, and southeast Asia. This lineage includes two genera from Mexico and Central America: Hemichaena Bentham, which is sister to the North American Diplacus and Mimetanthe, and Leucocarpus D. Don, which is sister to the American and Asian Erythranthe.

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

Key
1. Plants aquatic or semi-aquatic, mat-forming.
→ 2
2. Stems functionally stolons, leaves on stolons; sepals 3; leaf blades fleshy.
Glossostigma
2. Stems prostrate to decumbent or erect; sepals 5, sometimes 3 in reduced forms; leaf blades sometimes thickened or semi-fleshy.
Erythranthe
1. Plants terrestrial or, if semi-aquatic, not mat-forming.
→ 3
3. Flowers strongly reflexed and appressed to inflorescence axes in fruit; fruits achenes; bracteoles present.
Phryma
3. Flowers lateral or erect to nodding, not strongly reflexed and appressed in fruit; fruits capsules; bracteoles absent.
→ 4
4. Fruit apices rounded to truncate; placentation axile.
→ 5
5. Leaf venation brochidodromous; stamens adnate to middle of corolla.
Mimulus
5. Leaf venation acrodromous (veins usually basal only, sometimes basal and suprabasal); stamens adnate proximal to middle of corolla.
Erythranthe
4. Fruit apices attenuate; placentation parietal.
→ 6
6. Pedicels ± equal to or slightly longer than calyces; calyx lobe midveins low-rounded, not wing-angled; fruit walls densely pustulate-glandular.
Mimetanthe
6. Pedicels nearly absent or shorter than calyces, rarely ± equal to or slightly longer than calyces; calyx lobe midveins angled or wing-angled; fruit walls smooth, eglandular.
Diplacus
Source FNA vol. 17, p. 389. FNA vol. 17, p. 365. Authors: Richard K. Rabeler, Craig C. Freeman, Wayne J. Elisens.
Parent taxa 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
Subordinate taxa
Diplacus, Erythranthe, Glossostigma, Mimetanthe, Mimulus, Phryma
Synonyms Mimulus primuloides, M. nevadensis, M. pilosellus, M. primuloides var. minimus, M. primuloides var. pilosellus
Name authority (Bentham) G. L. Nesom & N. S. Fraga: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 35. (2012) Schauer
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