[Sidenote: =California Bee-plant=
_Scrophulària Califórnica_
=Red, green
Spring, summer
Northwest, Cal.=]
This is a coarse plant, smooth, or rather sticky and hairy, with
several stout, square stems, and forming a large clump, from two to six
feet high. The little flowers have a quaint appearance, but are usually
only about a quarter of an inch long, with brownish-red or greenish
corollas, which are neither pretty nor conspicuous, but the variety
_floribúnda_, of southern California, has flowers which are nearly half
an inch long, with rich red corollas, handsome and brilliant in effect.
These plants yield a great deal of honey and are common and widely
distributed.
There are several kinds of Diplacus, much resembling Mimulus, except
that they are shrubs, with evergreen leaves.
[Sidenote: =Sticky Monkey-flower, Bush Monkey-flower=
_Diplácus longiflòrus (Mimulus)_
=Salmon-color (varying from pale yellow to red)
Spring, summer
California=]
When in full bloom, this is a handsome and very conspicuous shrub,
for the flowers are numerous and unusual in coloring, being usually a
peculiar shade of salmon-color, which at a distance gives the effect in
the landscape of some sort of exotic rhododendron. It is from two to
six feet high, with very dark green, sticky, usually toothless leaves,
with their margins rolled back, dark sticky buds and large flowers,
which are sometimes three inches long, the corolla varying in color
from almost white to scarlet, with a white stigma. They bloom more or
less all the year round and there are several similar, named varieties.
[Sidenote: =Bush Monkey-flower=
_Diplácus puníceus (Mimulus)_
=Red
Spring, summer, autumn
California=]
This is much like the last, and is often very handsome. In the crevices
of the sea-cliffs at La Jolla it makes tangled thickets of woody stems
and dark green foliage, ornamented with many scarlet or rich deep-red
flowers, with a velvety surface like that of a pansy and with orange
ribs in the throat. This is common throughout California.
[Illustration: Bush Monkey-flower--Diplacus longiflorus.]
[Illustration: California Bee-plant--Scrophularia Californica var.
floribunda.]
There are many kinds of Mimulus, or Monkey-flower, usually growing in
moist places, with erect or slanting, juicy stems; leaves opposite,
usually toothed; flowers generally handsome, on flower-stalks from
the axils of the leaves; calyx covering the tube of the corolla,
bell-shaped, five-angled and five-toothed, upper tooth usually larger;
corolla two-lipped, the upper lip with two lobes, erect or turned back,
the lower with three, rounded, spreading lobes, the tube not swollen
at base and with a pair of ridges within on the lower side; stamens
four, in pairs, not inclosed in the upper lip, their two anther-cells
spreading apart, no rudiment of a fifth stamen; style threadlike,
stigma with two, flat, spreading tips. When an insect alights it
touches the stigma, which immediately folds its tips together, thus
exposing the anthers, so that the insect becomes dusted with pollen.
This can be observed by touching the stigma with a pencil. The odd
little grinning face of these flowers suggested both the common name
and the Greek, derived from "ape."
[Sidenote: =Monkey-flower=
_Mímulus brévipes_
=Yellow
Spring
California=]
A very handsome plant, from one to two feet high, rather hairy and
sticky all over, with dark green leaves, usually toothless, and large,
clear bright yellow flowers, an inch and a half long, with a pair of
ridges in the throat and a pale green stigma. This grows on hillsides,
the rich green foliage and bronze-colored buds contrasting finely with
the bright flowers. The leaves are quite unlike those of the Common
Yellow Monkey-flower.
[Sidenote: =Pink Monkey-flower= _Mímulus Lewísii_ =Pink Spring,
summer West, etc.=]
A graceful mountain perennial, growing near streams, from two to three
feet tall, with bright green, toothed leaves, thin in texture, more or
less hairy, without leafstalks; the stems and buds slightly sticky.
The lovely flowers are nearly two inches long, the corolla varying
from pale pink to rose-red, with two, hairy, yellow ridges in the
throat, the stamens not protruding from the tube. This pink kind takes
the place in the high mountains of the Scarlet Monkey-flower of lower
altitudes and is found as far east as Colorado.
[Illustration: Pink Monkey-flower--Mimulus Lewisii.]
[Illustration: Monkey-flower--Mimulus brevipes.]
[Sidenote: =Scarlet Monkey-flower=
_Mímulus cardinàlis_
=Red
Spring, summer
Southwest. Oreg.=]
An exceedingly handsome kind, sometimes nearly five feet high, much
like the last, but with vivid scarlet corollas, decidedly two-lipped,
the upper lip erect and the lower lobes turned back, the stamens
protruding from the tube. I first saw these gorgeous flowers glowing
like bits of flame among the ferns and grasses that bordered a
beautiful spring in a cave in the Grand Canyon, where icy water fell on
them drop by drop through a crevice in the rocky roof far above them
and kept them glistening with moisture. This is often cultivated in
gardens.
[Sidenote: =Little Yellow Monkey-flower=
_Mímulus primuloìdes_
=Yellow
Summer
Cal., Oreg.=]
A charming little plant, from three to six inches tall, with pretty
delicate flowers, from half an inch to an inch long, the corolla-lobes
all alike, bright yellow, often dotted with crimson, growing singly on
the tips of very slender flower-stalks, springing from a cluster of
bright yellowish-green leaves, usually toothed, smooth, or sometimes
hairy. This grows in moist mountain meadows.
[Sidenote: =Little Pink Monkey-flower=
_Mímulus Tórreyi_
=Pink
Summer
California=]
A delicate little plant, from three inches to a foot high, rather
hairy and sticky, with very slender branching stems, yellowish-green,
toothless leaves, and bright flowers, about three-quarters of an inch
long, with almost no flower-stalks; the corolla-lobes pink, veined
with purple, the tube crimson, with two yellow ridges in the throat. A
patch of these little flowers scattered over a sandy slope in Yosemite,
sometimes growing with a tiny blue and white Lupine that likes the
same sort of place, is an exceedingly pretty sight. It grows in the
mountains, preferring moderate altitudes, becoming lower and deeper in
color in higher places.
[Sidenote: =Desert Monkey-flower=
_Mímulus Fremóntii_
=Pink
Spring
California=]
A charming little plant, something like the last but prettier, three or
four inches tall, with very slender, stiff, purplish, branching stems
and smooth, thickish, light green leaves, purplish on the under side.
The flowers are nearly an inch across, with a hairy calyx and bright
purplish-pink corolla, streaked with magenta, with yellow ridges on the
lower lip and plaits inside the throat. They look exceedingly pretty on
the pale sand of the Mojave Desert.
[Illustration: Desert Monkey-flower--M. Fremontii.
Little Pink Monkey-flower--M. Torreyi.