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.
PURPLE