Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
45. Scrophulariaceae, the Figwort Family
7. Mimulus L. -- Monkey-flower4. Mimulus ringens L. -- Allegheny monkey-flower
Erect or occasionally decumbent perennial 3-8 dm tall, from stout rhizomes, sometimes stoloniferous at the base, glabrous throughout; stem simple or branched, 4-angled, sometimes narrowly winged on the angles. Leaves sessile, reduced and sometimes bractlike above in the inflorescence, oblong to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4-12 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, acute to acuminate at the tip, shallowly serrate, auriculate-clasping at the base. Flowers blue-violet to lavender, on slender pedicels 1.5-4.5 cm long, longer than the calyx; calyx regular, angular, 10-18 mm long, the lobes slender, subulate, 3-5 mm long; corolla strongly bilabiate, 20-30 mm long, nearly closed at the throat, the upper lip erect and reflexed, the lower lip longer, deflexed. Capsule broadly oblong, about equaling the calyx tube. Jun--Aug. Stream banks, oxbow marshes and wooded floodplains; e ND, e SD, n and e NE; (Que. and N.S. to Sask., s to FL, LA and OK).
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