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Mimulus ringens – Monkeyflower

$12.00

This perennial plant is 1-3′ tall, branching occasionally to frequently. The light green stems are glabrous and bluntly 4-angled, but they are not conspicuously winged. The opposite leaves are up to 4″ long and 1″ across; they are light to medium green, lanceolate or elliptic-oblanceolate in shape, glabrous, and serrated to sparingly serrated along their margins. The leaves are sessile or they clasp the stems; petioles are absent. Leaf bases are round to slightly cordate, while their tips are slender and pointed. Individual flowers develop from the leaf axils of the middle to upper stems. These flowers are about 1″ long, and they have two-lipped corollas that are usually pale blue-violet (less often pink or white).

Available May – Mid May 2015

Out of stock

Description

Asymmetrical, 2-lipped, blue-purple flowers rise from the axils of opposite leaves that clasp the square stem.

The flower looks something like a monkeys face, hence the common and genus names, the latter from the Latin mimus (a buffoon). A variety of this plant, M. ringens var. colpophilus, found from Quebec to Maine on tidal muds, is classified as an endangered species in Maine. The lavender-flowering Sharp-winged Monkeyflower (M. alatus) has stalked leaves and a winged stem. It is more common southward and westward in wet sites.

 

Additional information

Weight 1 lbs
Dimensions 4 × 4 × 4 in
Height

Light

Color

Blooms