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

King of Arizona monkeyflower

Habit Perennials, rhizomatous, sometimes rooting at proximal nodes. Annuals, fibrous-rooted, sometimes rooting at proximal nodes.
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.

erect to ascending-erect, branched, sometimes becoming slightly fistulose, 15–45 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;

petiole: proximals 5–25(–30) mm, mid cauline and distals not connate, 0 mm;

blade palmately 5–7-veined, proximal sometimes subpinnate, proximals ovate to depressed-orbicular, 15–20(–50) × 15–25(–50) mm, medials and distals broadly depressed-ovate to obtriangular or flabellate, 15–35 mm, largest basal or at mid stem with distal slightly reduced, base attenuate-cuneate, margins shallowly serrate-dentate, sometimes irregularly, to mucronulate or apiculate, teeth (3–)5–7 per side, rarely subentire, apex rounded, surfaces glabrous.

Flowers

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

plesiogamous, 6–16, from all nodes or medial to distal, cleistogamous.

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, not red-dotted, bilaterally or radially symmetric, bilabiate or regular;

tube-throat cylindric-funnelform, 9–12 mm, exserted 3–5 mm beyond calyx margin;

limb expanded 1–1.5 mm.

Fruiting pedicels

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

15–30 mm, longer than subtending leaves, glabrous.

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.

sparsely purple-dotted, broadly campanulate-cylindric, inflated, sagittally compressed, 7–9 mm, glabrous, throat not closing, adaxial lobe longest.

Capsules

included, 6–8 mm.

included, 4–5 mm.

Anthers

included, finely hirtellous to hispidulous.

included, glabrous.

Erythranthe ptilota

Erythranthe regni

Phenology Flowering (May–)Jun–Aug. Flowering Mar–May.
Habitat Creek banks, gravel bars, flood plains, shallow ditches and natural drainages, swales, damp banks, wet sand, moist soils in coniferous woods, marshes, bogs. Moist to wet, sandy loam soils.
Elevation 0–1000(–1900) m. (0–3300(–6200) ft.) 800–1000 m. (2600–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
from FNA
AZ
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 regni is endemic to the Kofa Mountains of Yuma County; all collections have been made from the Kofa Game Refuge (Kofa National Wildlife Refuge). Because its calyces remain open at maturity, this species is hypothesized to be most closely related to E. geyeri, from which it differs by its erect habit, apparently annual duration, larger leaves, purple-dotted calyces, and corollas with longer tube-throat and barely bilabiate limb. Geography and other morphology, however, suggest that its evolutionary origins are closer to E. guttata.

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

Source FNA vol. 17, p. 402. FNA vol. 17, p. 406.
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. 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. 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
Name authority G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2017-17: 4. (2017) G. L. Nesom: Phytoneuron 2012-40: 24. (2012)
Web links