[Illustration: Mimulus bigelovi]
Common name: MONKEYFLOWER
Arizona and California deserts: (_Mimulus bigelovi_). Red-purple.
February-April.
Texas desert: (_Mimulus glabratus_). Yellow. June.
Figwort family. Size: Branching, creeping annual up to 8 inches.
Disproportionately large flowers for the size of the low-growing,
small-leafed plant make it particularly conspicuous in the open, sandy
locations where it blossoms in the springtime.
Although the Monkeyflower is usually thought of as moisture-loving,
there are a number of desert species. The flowers are quite easy to
recognize, as they closely resemble the Monkeyflowers which grow in the
moist places surrounding seeps and springs, and they also are somewhat
similar in appearance to their close relatives the Snapdragons and
Pentstemons.
The desert species are well worthy of consideration for cultivation as
garden ornamentals.