Sharp-winged Monkey Flower

(Mimulus alatus)

 

   

 

Color Photographs: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Sharp-winged Monkey Flower (Mimulus alatus Ait.)

Identification: Flowers large, pastel violet. Base of flower tubular with 5 free petal lobes. Upper 2 petal lobes erect, slightly twisted. Lower 3 petal lobes broad, middle lobe with two patches of yellow hairs. Sepals fused into a elongate, rectangular capsule. Flower stalk (pedicel) short. Flowers arising from leaf axils. Stem square. Leaves in opposite pairs, elongate-ovate, with weakly toothed outer margins. Leaves with long petioles. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Iowa and Illinois in the west to New England in the east, southward to Florida and Texas. Also occurs in the southern and central Plains States.

Habitat: Sharp-winged Monkey Flower is found in swamps, along the shores of rivers and lakes, and other wet places.

Flowering period: June to September.

Similar Species: Square-stemmed Monkey Flower is a similar species. However the flower stalks of that species are not short, but longer than the calyx. The leaves are nearly sessile to the stem.

Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc. 2003. All rights reserved.