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

musk monkeyflower, musk-flower, sessile-leaf monkey-flower, wing-leaf monkeyflower

Texas monkeyflower

Habit Perennials, rhizomatous, sometimes rooting at proximal nodes. Annuals, fibrous-rooted, rooting at proximal nodes, sometimes forming matlike colonies.
Stems

prostrate, sometimes decumbent to ascending, few-branched, 20–80 cm, villous, hairs 1–2 mm, eglandular, sometimes mixed with much shorter stipitate-glandular ones, internodes evident.

decumbent to decumbent-ascending basally, becoming fully erect at least in inflorescence, simple, sometimes few-branched from proximal nodes, usually distinctly fistulose, 10–30 cm, glabrous.

Leaves

cauline, basal not persistent, often congested;

petiole 0 mm, rarely 1–2(–3) mm;

blade pinnately veined, oblong-lanceolate, 30–70 × 10–22 mm, base rounded, margins denticulate to dentate, apex acute, surfaces villous, hairs 1–2 mm, eglandular, sometimes mixed with much shorter stipitate-glandular ones.

basal and cauline, basal sometimes deciduous by flowering;

petiole: basal and proximals to mid cauline 10–70 mm, distals 0 mm;

blade palmately veined, ovate to broadly ovate or elliptic-ovate, becoming subreniform distally, (5–)15–35(–60) mm, distal closely paired, auriculate-subclasping, base truncate to subcordate, margins dentate-serrate to shallowly dentate, teeth 5–11 per side, apex obtuse to rounded, surfaces glabrous.

Flowers

herkogamous, 4–10, from medial to distal nodes.

plesiogamous, (6–)8–18(–24), often produced from all nodes, loosely to densely racemose, chasmogamous.

Styles

glabrous.

glabrous.

Corollas

yellow, throat with fine blackish or brownish lines on all sides, weakly bilaterally or nearly radially symmetric, weakly bilabiate or nearly regular;

tube-throat narrowly campanulate, 15–18 mm, exserted beyond calyx margin;

lobe apex rounded.

yellow, red-spotted, bilaterally symmetric, bilabiate;

tube-throat cylindric, 7–11 mm, exserted (1–)2–3(–4) mm beyond calyx margin;

limb slightly expanded.

Fruiting pedicels

(15–)22–50 mm, villous, hairs 1–2 mm, eglandular, sometimes mixed with much shorter stipitate-glandular ones.

9–20 mm, glabrous, rarely sparsely stipitate-glandular.

Fruiting calyces

wing- or plicate-angled, cylindric-campanulate, weakly inflated, 10–12 mm, villous-glandular, hairs gland-tipped, lobes distinctly spreading, strongly unequal, linear-lanceolate to narrowly triangular, 5–9 mm, apex long acuminate-apiculate.

purple-spotted, sometimes greenish, broadly cylindric-campanulate, inflated, sagittally compressed, 7–11 mm, glabrous, rarely minutely scabrous-hirtellous or sparsely stipitate-glandular, throat not closing, abaxial lobe slightly upcurving 10–45º, spreading 45º, or sometimes deflexed 40º.

Capsules

included, 6–8 mm.

included, 4.5–6 mm.

Anthers

included, finely hirtellous to hispidulous.

included, glabrous.

2n

= 60.

Erythranthe ptilota

Erythranthe inamoena

Phenology Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug. Flowering Jan–Apr(–Sep).
Habitat Creek banks, gravel bars, flood plains, shallow ditches and natural drainages, swales, damp banks, wet sand, moist soils in coniferous woods, marshes, bogs. Edge of seeps and creeks, mud or gravel, shallow running water, wet crevices, canyon drainages.
Elevation 0–1000(–1900) m. (0–3300(–6200) ft.) 100–2400 m. (300–7900 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila)
Discussion

Erythranthe ptilota is recognized by its prostrate to decumbent or decumbent-ascending habit, large, consistently sessile leaves, densely villous vestiture, long pedicels, large calyces and corollas, hispid-hirtellous anthers, and particularly by its long, strongly unequal, linear-triangular calyx lobes usually distally falcate. Leaf bases typically are truncate to rounded or subcordate. Rarely the leaves are short-petiolate, but in such cases, the distinctive leaf bases, vestiture, calyx morphology, and pubescent anthers are diagnostic. Erythranthe ptilota is widely sympatric with E. moschata but usually occurs at lower elevations and characteristically in wetter habitats. The epithet ptilota (Greek ptilotos, winged) alludes to a fancied winglike aspect of the pairs of sessile leaves.

A population system of Erythranthe ptilota-like plants occurs in southern California, about 480 km disjunct from the main range of the species. These plants have the prostrate habit, large leaves, long pedicels, and large corollas of E. ptilota, but the calyx lobes are variable in length and usually do not show the characteristic attenuate-apiculate apices. The southern California plants are identified here as E. moschata.

Erythranthe ptilota is a new name at specific rank for Mimulus moschatus var. sessilifolius [not E. sessilifolia (Maximowicz) G. L. Nesom].

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

Erythranthe inamoena is distinctive in its completely glabrous herbage, small corollas, flowers in racemes mostly at distal nodes and with reduced bracts, short and open-throated fruiting calyces, erect and fistulose stems, and apparent annual duration (fibrous-rooted but usually rooting at proximal cauline nodes).

Presumably because of its autogamous reproduction, Erythranthe inamoena has been confused with E. cordata, especially in the trans-Pecos region of Texas, where the two are sympatric. In contrast to E. cordata, E. inamoena usually has glabrous pedicels and calyces, flowers often produced from all nodes, smaller calyces [(7–)8–11 mm] that do not close at maturity, and corollas with a shorter tube-throat (7–11 mm).

Some populations in Brewster, Presidio, and Val Verde counties are identified here as Erythranthe inamoena (based on proximal-to-distal distribution of flowers and the short mature calyces with open throat) but have sparsely stipitate-glandular pedicels and calyces.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 402. FNA vol. 17, p. 407.
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. primuloides, 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. 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 moschatus var. sessilifolius Mimulus inamoenus, M. jamesii var. texensis
Name authority G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2017-17: 4. (2017) (Greene) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-39: 44. (2012)
Web links