Bush Monkeyflower
Bush Monkeyflower
Mimulus aurantiacus
(Photo by Tim Reiley)
If you have hiked anywhere around here, you have almost certainly
seen this abundant perennial bush. It grows
on rocky hillsides throughout northern
California and can have blooms on it all year. By the end of the
summer, it can look very scorched, but it will spring back with the
first rains. Near the lab, you can find it
by the side of the steep road up to the substation.
The bloom is best between March and July.
Some people know it
as the Sticky Monkeyflower or
Mimulus aurantiacus. It is
in the Snapdragon Family.
I guess the flowers do look a bit like a monkey, with two big ears.
It is indeed sticky--feel the leaves. The flowers also get
a drop of nectar at their base in early spring. There are 77
species of Monkeyflower, with about half being perennial. The
seven scrub-like species, including the Bush Monkeyflower,
are consider by some to be in the genus
Diplacus, so some books have it as Diplacus aurantiacus.
We have at least one other Monkeyflower, the Seep-Spring
Monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus, which grows by springs and
streams. One of the best places to see them is in
Quicksilver Park, up the paved road from the McAbee
entrance. Near the lab, you can find them by the
two streams that you cross by wooden bridges on the
trail between the chairs and the park.
Although quite bitter, the young leaves and stems
can be eaten. Believe it or not, Indians crushed
the leaves and applied them to wounds.
Seep-Spring Monkeyflower
