XMimulus rubellus - Little Redstem MonkeyflowerX
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Little Redstem Monkeyflower -or- Pygmy monkey flower -or- Red monkeyflower -or- Red stemmed himulus (Mimulus rubellus), family Phrymaceae (Lopseed)
While there is scant information about the species rubellus, WIKIPEDIA has an interesting discussion of the plant family that hosts it: "Phrymaceae has recently become a model system for evolutionary studies. The composition of Phrymaceae and the delimitation of genera changed radically from 2002 to 2012 as a result of molecular phylogenetic studies. Previously, Phrymaceae had been monotypic with Phryma leptostachya as its only species. It was limited in geographic range to eastern North America and eastern China. Phryma had been previously placed by Cronquist in Verbenaceae. Research on phylogenetic relationships revealed that several genera, traditionally included in Scrophulariaceae, were actually more closely related to Phryma than to Scrophularia. These genera became part of an expanded Phrymaceae. As currently understood, Phrymaceae consists of about 210 species in 13 genera. Erythranthe (111 species) and Diplacus (46 species) are much larger than the other genera. Phrymaceae is distributed nearly worldwide but with the majority of species in western North America (about 130 species) and Australia (about 30 species). Phrymaceae consists of four clades, all of which have strong statistical support in cladistic analyses of DNA sequences. No relationships among these four clades have been strongly supported by the bootstrap or posterior probability assessments of clade support in any of the datasets that have been produced so far. One of the four main clades consists of a single species, Phryma leptostachya. Another consists of Mimulus sensu stricto (seven species) and six genera that have an Australian distribution. The other two clades have an American-Asian disjunct distribution. One of these includes the large genus Diplacus, while the other of these includes the other large genus, Erythranthe. Estimates of the number of species in Phrymaceae have varied widely because of a lack of clear differences between species in certain genera, especially Diplacus and Erythranthe. When these two genera have been treated as segregates of Mimulus, the number of species assigned to Mimulus sensu lato has ranged from about 90 to about 150. A 2008 paper indicates that the actual number of species is well over 150." End quote.
We make note of the botanic status of Mimulus since the genus can be found on the internet as belonging in the family Scrophulariaceae (Figwort).
While there are no recorded uses of rubellus by Native Americans other species in the genus were utilized in edible and medicinal capacities.
Flower -
Plant location: Silver Canyon Road - Bishop California - April 25, 2017
Habitats include: Joshua Tree Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland, wetland-riparian - can occur in wetlands or non-wetlands. Found in the following United States: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. In Texas andWyoming the species is present but rare. Plant -
Bloom season: April, May and June
Foliage -
Silver Canyon Road - Bishop California - April 25, 2017
The phrase "one thin dime" never fit better than this demonstration of just how tiny the flowers of rubellus are. -
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