COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER.
Mimulus luteus, L. Figwort Family.
Varying greatly in size. Stems.—One to four feet high. Leaves.—Mostly smooth; ovate-oval or cordate; coarsely notched. Flowers.—Yellow. Calyx.—Sharply five-angled; unevenly five-lobed. Corolla.—One or two inches long; lower lip usually spotted with brown purple. Stamens.—Four; in pairs. Anthers with two divergent cells. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long and slender. Stigma with two rounded lips. Hab.—Common throughout California.
The bright canary-colored blossoms of the common monkey-flower are a familiar sight upon almost every stream-bank. The plant varies greatly in size, according to the locality of its growth. I once saw it flourishing in the rich soil of a lake-shore, where its hollow stems were as large as an ordinary cane, and its blossoms grotesquely large.
M. moschatus, Dougl., the common musk-plant of cultivation, is usually found along mountain-streams. It may be known by its clammy, musk-scented, light-green herbage. Its flowers are larger than in cultivation.
M. brevipes, Benth., is common from Santa Barbara to San Diego, upon hillsides in spring. It has stems a foot or two high, lanceolate leaves one to four inches long, and large, handsome yellow flowers, having a pair of ridges running down their open throats.
[COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER—Mimulus luteus.]
![[COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER—Mimulus luteus.]](#3624944100741987669_f046.png.id-9037960264111811682.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
Œnothera bistorta, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.
From several inches to a foot or two high. Leaves.—Three or four inches long; denticulate; the upper mostly rounded at base. Petals.—Yellow; four to seven lines long; with usually a brown spot at the base. Stigma.—Large and spherical. Capsule.—Four to nine lines long; a line or so wide; attenuate upward; contorted. (See Œnothera.) Hab.—Ventura to San Diego.
This is a very common species of evening primrose in the south, and may be found blooming until June. It is very variable in its manner of growth. In moist, shaded localities it becomes an erect plant a foot or two high; while upon open, exposed plains it is often only two or three inches high, but seems almost to emulate the "sunshine" in its attempt to gild the plain with its bright blossoms. It frequently grows in gravelly washes. Its flowers have a peculiarly clean, brilliant, alert look, and may usually be known by the brown spot at the base of the petals. The specific name is in reference to its twice-twisted capsule.
The "beach primrose," Œ. cheiranthifolia, var. suffruticosa, Wats., often grows in great beds upon the dry sands of the seashore, from Monterey to San Diego. Its decumbent stems are thickly clothed with small, ovate, stemless leaves, and its silvery foliage makes a beautiful setting for its large golden flowers.