Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
45. Scrophulariaceae, the Figwort Family
7. Mimulus L. -- Monkey-flower1. Mimulus alatus Ait. -- Sharpwing monkey-flower
Erect to ascending, glabrous perennial 3-7 dm tall, stoloniferous at the base; stem simple or branched above, 4-angled and winged. Leaves petiolate, reduced upward, the blades broadly lanceolate to ovate, 5-12 cm long, 2.5-4 cm wide, acute to acuminate, serrate, tapered to a narrowly winged petiole 1-2 cm long. Flowers blue-violet to lavender, on pedicels 2-8 mm long, to 14 mm long in fruit, shorter than the calyx; calyx regular, 11-18 mm long, the lobes narrow and subulate, 0.8-2.6 mm long; corolla strongly bilabiate, 20-28 mm long, nearly closed at the throat, the upper lip erect to reflexed, the lower lip longer and spreading. Capsule oblong-ovoid, 8-11 mm long. Jul--Sep. Stream banks and floodplains, often where shaded; uncommon in n and e NE; (CT, NY and Ont. to NE, s to n FL and e TX).
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