A conspicuous plant with very large, white, sometimes lavender-tinted flowers that open at night and wilt in the bright morning sunlight. A single plant may have as many as 100 blooms at one time. Datura is one of the few plants that blooms during the hot summer in Zion Canyon. Many different names are locally applied to it, and include the following: Zion Lily, Moon Lily, Jimson Weed and Thornapple. The plant is poisonous to eat, especially the seeds, and was used by several Indian tribes to induce stupor and dreams as a part of a widespread religious cult. It contains a deadly narcotic principle akin to atropine.
Sacred Datura
87. MONKEYFLOWERFigwort Family
Mimulus cardinalis
One of the very beautiful flowering plants along the Zion Narrows Trail and in cool, damp places of the shady canyons is this Crimson Monkeyflower with its orange-red blossoms and deep-green leaves. Its flowers are 1 to 2 inches long and the wide-toothed leaves are 3 to 5 inches long. It is the largest Monkeyflower in the park. Some plants are found blooming throughout much of the summer season, especially along the canyon walls where there are seeps of water most of the year.
Monkeyflower
88. INDIAN PAINTBRUSHFigwort Family
Castilleja coccinea
From early March until May the warm hillsides below 6,000 feet are made brilliant by clumps of deep-red flowers often found next to patches of Mountain Mahogany. They are the Dwarf Indian Paintbrush and are by far the most conspicuous early spring flower in Zion. Found very abundantly along the park road from the East Entrance to the Zion Tunnel, they present a most pleasing sight early in the season. Other species are very plentiful at Cedar Breaks and often carpet the meadows in showy orange or red. Several species are also found at Bryce Canyon National Park.
