Biology:Mimulus ringens

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Short description: Species of flowering plant

Mimulus ringens
Monkey flower brdgwtr 20080803 3047.JPG
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Phrymaceae
Genus: Mimulus
Species:
M. ringens
Binomial name
Mimulus ringens

Mimulus ringens is a species of monkeyflower known by the common names Allegheny monkeyflower and square-stemmed monkeyflower.

It is native to eastern and central North America and has been introduced to the Pacific Northwest.[1][2] It grows in a wide variety of moist to wet habitat types.[3][4] Seeds are available from commercial suppliers.

This is a rhizomatous perennial[3] growing 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to well over 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall, its 4-angled stem usually erect.[4] The oppositely arranged leaves are lance-shaped to oblong, up to 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long, usually clasping the stem.[4] The sessile leaves of M. ringens help to distinguish it from its eastern relative, Mimulus alatus,[5] which bears leaves on petioles and has a winged stem. The herbage is hairless.[3] The flower is 1–3 inches (2.5–7.6 cm) long,[3] its tubular base encapsulated in a ribbed calyx of sepals with pointed lobes. The flower is lavender, blue, red or pink in color[3] and is divided into an upper lip and a larger, swollen lower lip.[4]

One variety of this plant, var. colophilus, is rare, ecologically restricted, and vulnerable. It is known from Quebec, it has been reported in Vermont, and there are a few occurrences in Maine, where it grows only in freshwater sections of tidal estuaries.[6] This variety is distinguished by having shorter calyces than the ringens variety and by its short flower pedicels, 1–1.7 centimetres (0.39–0.67 in) long[6] versus a length of 2–3.5 centimetres (0.79–1.38 in) in the nominate subspecies.[4] This plant variety faces several threats, but its current status is not known due to a lack of data.[6][7][8]

References

External links

Wikidata ☰ Q6862437 entry